Severity Assessment of Acute Hydrops Due to Recurrent Keratoconus after Penetrating Keratoplasty Using Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To compare the clinical characteristics of acute hydrops between eyes with recurrent keratoconus and eyes with treatment-naïve keratoconus.

Methods: Six eyes with acute hydrops caused by recurrent keratoconus (recurrent group) and 29 eyes with acute hydrops due to treatment-naïve keratoconus (naïve group) were included. We collected data from anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT), corneal topography and medical records. With AS-OCT, we investigated the location of Descemet’s membrane break, the length and frequency of Descemet’s membrane detachment, and the speed of corneal thinning before acute hydrops.

Results: Descemet’s membrane breaks were detectable in 6 cases in the recurrent group (100%) and 7 cases in the naïve group (70%). Distance from the break to the central line was 2–3 mm in the recurrent group, and less than 1 mm in the naïve group (p < .001). Detachment length was significantly greater in the recurrent group than in the naïve group (p = .003). Steep corneal power values tended to increase before acute hydrops in the recurrent group, but the difference between groups was not significant (observation period; 6.03 ± 2.67, 7.36 ± 5.53 years, respectively). Penetrating keratoplasty was required in 5 cases (83%) in the recurrent group, and 8 cases (28%) in the naïve group (p = .02).

Conclusions: Acute hydrops due to recurrent keratoconus occurred around graft-host junctions and was more severe than that in eyes with treatment-naïve keratoconus. Severity assessment of Descemet’s membrane detachment using AS-OCT provided clues not only for diagnosis, but also for predicting prognosis.

KEYWORDS:

• Acute hydrops
• keratoconus
• penetrating keratoplasty
• anterior-segment optical coherence tomography
• Descemet’s membrane

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, J.Y., on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant number JP18K16917).