A Prospective Study on Indications and Visual Outcome of Penetrating Keratoplasty

Objective: Purpose of the study is to carry out a prospective study to analyze the utilization of donor corneas for different pathological conditions and the visual outcome afterpenetrating keratoplasty (PK). Methods: A prospective investigational analysis of 100 donor corneas used forPK between June 2006 and June 2008with a follow-up of 12 months, was conducted to analyse the indications and visual outcome in different pathological conditions. Results: It was recorded that ‘Corneal Opacity’ was the most common indication for utilisation of donor corneas (43%), followed by Acute Infective Keratitis (AIK) cases (25%) and Pseudophakic Bullous Keratopathy (PBK) cases (14%). Utilisation of donor corneas for ‘Regrafts’ was in 7%casesandDescemetocele was the indication in 5%. Acute bullous keratopathy (ABK) (3%) and Keratoconus (3%) were uncommon indications for utilisation of donor corneas in the present study. Patients having “Normal” visual acuity increased from 0% cases preoperatively, in all categories to 20.9% in corneal opacity, 14.3% in Regrafts 7.1% in PBK, 40% in Descemetocele, 66.6% in Keratoconus, 33.3% in ABK, and 4% in AIK after 1 year. Conclusion:Indication for utilisation of donor corneas which carry a poorer prognosis for graft survival are relatively more common in India than in the developed world but PKimproves the quality of life by causing a significant improvement in visual acuity.