Switching Patients From Fingerprick Autologous Blood To Serum Eye Drops For The Treatment Of Ocular Surface Disease

Published 2023 - 41st Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: PP26.02 | DOI: 10.82333/gp8t-v119

Authors: Naomi Wijesingha* ¹ , Zain Charfare ¹ , Giovanni Montesano ² , Anant Sharma ³

¹Bedford Hospital,Bedford,United Kingdom, ²Optometry and Visual Sciences,City University of London,London,United Kingdom;NIHR Biomedical Research Centre,Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,London,United Kingdom, ³Moorfields Eye Hospital,Bedford,United Kingdom

Patients with ocular surface disease (OSD), who make up to 20% of the population, have mainstay of treatment options including artificial tears, anti-inflammatory drugs, and punctal occlusion. For those whose disease is refractory to these treatments, serum eye drops (SED) and fingerprick autologous blood (FAB) have been shown to have promising outcomes.
We aim to investigate the reasons patients with OSD, seen at one district general hospital, have switched from fingerprick autologous blood (FAB) to serum eye drops (SED).

All patients were seen in the outpatient clinic at Moorfields Eye Hospital, Bedford. Data from patients referred to the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) for SED was collected retrospectively and analysed with clinic documentation of previous FAB use.

13 patients were identified with severe OSD who had been referred for SED from FAB. These patients were referred to the NHSBT for SED between March 2021 to January 2023. Data from Medisoft was analysed to identify which patients had previously trialled FAB.

13 patients were identified with severe OSD newly referred for allogenic SED following a trial of FAB. Patient demographic included 11:2 Female:Male ratio, with an age range from 46 to 84 years old, mean age 63 years.
Indications for SED referral included 9 patients with Sjogren’s related dry eye, 2 patients with neurotrophic disease, 1 patient with injury and trauma and 1 patient with exposure keratopathy.
Documented reasoning for changing from FAB to SED included difficulty related to using their finger for application and in tolerating FAB, however 69% of patients had no documented cause for stopping FAB in favour of SED.
Of these 13 patients who joined the SED programme, 9 had received the issued SED by the time of analysis.

Sjogren’s related dry eye was the greatest indication for SED used after trialling FAB for the treatment of severe OSD. Further documentation would be useful in understanding why patients were unsuccessful with previous FAB trials prior to SED treatment.