ESCRS - FPM10.09 - Corneal Biomechanical Changes Following Athens Protocol Versus Cross Linking Alone In Keratconus

Corneal Biomechanical Changes Following Athens Protocol Versus Cross Linking Alone In Keratconus

Published 2022 - 40th Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: FPM10.09 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/pcnv-5465

Authors: Ghada samir Mohamed* 1 , alaa atia 2

1memorial institute of ophthalmic researches,memorial institute of ophthalmic researches,Cairo,Egypt, 2ophthalmology,al hayat hopspital,Cairo,Egypt

Purpose

Comparing the corneal biomechanics parameters including corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF) following Athens protocol (partial topographic guided photorefractive keratectomy combined with cross linking) versus cross linking alone in patients having keratoconus .

Setting

El hayat eye hospital , Memorial institute of ophthalmic researches

Methods

This study included 60 eyes divided into 2 groups: Group I composed of 30 eyes had undergone Athens protocol and group II (30 eyes) had undergone cross linking alone. All the patients were followed up every 6 months for total of 3 years. CH and CRF were measured using ocular response analyzer (ORA) to quantify the postoperative corneal biomechanical changes (primary outcome). The preoperative measures of CH, CRF, uncorrected visual acuity “UCVA”, Best corrected visual acuity “BCVA”, maximum Keratometry “K max” and central corneal thickness “CCT” were compared with 3th year postoperative measures in the both groups.

Results

Group l:  showed no significant change of CH measures (P= 0.598) and CFR measures (P=0.581). Significant improvement of UCVA and BCVA was noticed associated with significant decrease of K max and CCT. Group II showed no significant change in all the measured parameters including CH measures (P= 0.516)and CRF measures (p= 0.468) .

Conclusions

Both Athens protocol and CXL  are effective in preventing the progression of keratoconus. Athens protocol is effective in improving the visual acuity of the patient having keratoconus with no hazard on the corneal biomechanics, while CXL alone has less impact on improving the visual acuity.