ESCRS - FP30.03 - Vision-Related Quality Of Life In Keratoconus Patients With Enantiomorphic Topography After Bilateral Intrastromal Corneal Ring Implantation

Vision-Related Quality Of Life In Keratoconus Patients With Enantiomorphic Topography After Bilateral Intrastromal Corneal Ring Implantation

Published 2023 - 41st Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: FP30.03 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/9rdp-nv96

Authors: Pablo Rodrigues* 1 , Bernardo Moscovici 1 , Mauro Campos 1 , Walton Nose 1 , Denise Freitas 1 , Flavio Hirai 1

1Unifesp,Sao Paulo,Brazil

Purpose

To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) after intrastromal ring implantation in patients with keratoconus.

Setting

A prospective, randomized, interventional study.

Methods

We analyzed 60 eyes of 30 patients aged 16–35 years who were treated at the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. The Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ-25) and Short-Form 36 Questionnaire (SF-36) were used before intracorneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation and at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgical intervention.

Results

The mean corrected visual acuity improved from a mean of 0.32 ± 0.2 LogMAR (20/40) preoperatively to 0.14 ± 0.11 LogMAR (20/25) 1 year postoperatively (p = 0.001). The mean spherical equivalent varied from −7.24 ± 3.47 preoperatively to −4.13 ± 2.41 postoperatively (p = 0.001). The overall composite score for the VFQ-25 improved from 55.1 preoperatively to 80.4 1 postoperatively (P = 0.001). SF-36 showed statistically significant improvement in all scores. When analyzing the correlation between visual acuity and VFQ composite score, a significant correlation was found between both variables (Pearson’s correlation coefficient of −0.40, p = 0.001).

Conclusions

Patients with keratoconus had increased psychological symptoms and lower QOL and improved
psychosocial criteria associated with corneal remodeling and decreased visual dependence on others after surgery. Extrapolation of these data to the whole keratoconus population suggests that ICRS implantation could improve
QOL
in these patients.