Comparative Study on the Efficacy of Frozen Amniotic Membrane Transplantation and Lamellar Keratoplasty in the Treatment of Mooren Ulcer.

OBJECTIVE To compare of the clinical efficacy of frozen amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) and lamellar keratoplasty (LKP) in the treatment of Mooren ulcer. METHOD Forty patients (42 eyes) with Mooren's ulcer in our hospital from January 2010 to January 2019 were divided into frozen AMT group (20 eyes) and LKP group (22 eyes). Comparative observation of post-operative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), corneal epithelial healing time, corneal epithelialization time, ulcer healing, corneal transparency, corneal graft transparency, neovascularization and original disease recurrence were observed. RESULTS The average BCVA at post-operative 6 and 12 months in LKP group were significantly lower than AMT group (P < 0.05). The ulcer healing rates in LKP group (63.6) were significantly higher than AMT group (30) (P < 0.05). The corneal epithelialization time of LKP group were 9.55 ± 1.26 days. The corneal epithelial healing time of AMT group were 13.50 ± 2.21 days. Nine cases were corneal graft transparency grade 0, and 13 cases were grade I. Three eyes in AMT group were corneal transparency grade 0, 7 were grade I and 10 were grade II. Corneal neovascularization were observed in 3 eyes in AMT group and 4 eyes in LKP group. The original disease recurrence rates in LKP group (50) were significantly higher than AMT group (20) (P < 0.05). Four cases of primary corneal transplantation failure were observed in LKP group. CONCLUSION Lamellar keratoplasty group obtained significantly better BCVA during follow-up and faster healing time than the frozen AMT group while frozen AMT group had lower original disease recurrence rates than LKP group.