Transplante corneal pediátrico

SUMMARY Purpose: To assess indications, evolution in visual acuity (VA) and percent of clear cornea in a 6 month-follow up after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) in pediatric patients. Methods and patients: All patients underwent PK in a seven month period. Results: We performed 18 PK in 17 patients, 11 male (61%) and 7 female (39%), average age 10±2 years. Indications for PK were: keratoconus 9/18 (50%) and leucoma 6/18 (32%) mostly. The VA examination previous to surgery was as follows: count fingers (CF), hand movements (HM) and light perception (LP) in 55%, 11% and 6% respectively. At 6 months of follow up after PK, the VA were CF 2/18 (11%), 20/60 to 20/100 in 3/18 patients (17%) and < 20/50 in 10/18 (55%) children. Clear cornea after 6 months of follow up was identified in 83% of the cases and graft failure in only 3 patients (17%). Conclusion: The principal indications for PK in our hospital were keratoconus and leucoma, after surgery clear cornea was achieved in 83% of the cases at 6 months of follow up and in our hands the VA improved from CF to < 20/50 in more of one half in the cases.