LOWER-RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTION-INDUCED INTERFACE CRYSTALLINE KERATOPATHY IN A POST-DSAEK PATIENT.

Published 2023 - 27th ESCRS Winter Meeting

Reference: P116 | Type: Presented Poster & Poster Submission | DOI: 10.82333/v2vm-wj65

Authors: Konstantina Mouriki ¹ , Nick Ktistakis ¹ , Ioanna Gardeli* ¹

¹Cornea,General Hospital of Athens G. Gennimatas,ATHENS,Greece

Purpose

To present an interesting case of crystalline keratopathy three months after DSAEK and its possible association with pathogens that infect the lower respiratory tract and particularly the novel coronavirus.

Setting

A 60-year-old female visited the cornea department complaining of progressive vision loss in her right eye. She reported a history of DSAEK 3 months prior, due to bullous keratopathy. Of note, in the last 15 days, she contracted a lower respiratory infection for which she used nasal corticosteroid sprays and oral antibiotics. The patient was COVID-19 positive.

Methods

Slit lamp biomicroscopy revealed numerous whitish keratic precipitates centrally at the interface, which led to the diagnosis of crystalline keratopathy. We evaluated the patient daily with slit lamp photographs of the cornea and constant measurement of her visual acuity.

Results

After intense follow-up and regimen modification, the crystals at the interface gradually wore off and the visual acuity of the patient improved to 20/25. This coincides with the patient's negative COVID-19 rapid test result and the complete resolution of the lower respiratory tract infection, as well as the abortion of col ofloxacin from her regimen.

Conclusion

It is a clinical problem whether the keratic precipitates occurred due to her ongoing treatment for DSAEK with col ofloxacin, whether they originated from another microorganism that co-infected the patient's lower respiratory tract, or the coronavirus itself. No similar case reports have been yet published in the literature.