UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

ISTANBUL, Turkey — The combination of corneal collagen cross-linking and PRK has a significant impact on the quality of vision and quality of life of patients with keratoconus, according to two studies presented at the winter meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.

Giovanni Alessio, MD, presented the results of 34 eyes of 17 patients with progressive keratoconus treated with collagen cross-linking alone in one eye and with simultaneous collagen cross-linking and PRK in the fellow eye. PRK was performed using the iVIS topography-guided custom ablation system (Ligi Tecnologie Medicali) and the CIPTA software for customized minimal ablation strategy.

"At 2 years, eyes treated by combined PRK and cross-linking showed a significant higher reduction in both higher-order and coma-like aberrations than eyes treated by cross-linking alone," Dr. Alessio said.

In another study presented by George Labiris, MD, 16 keratoconus patients were treated with collagen cross-linking alone and eight underwent cross-linking with simultaneous PRK treatment.

All patients were asked to respond to the NEI-RQL-42 vision-specific quality-of-life questionnaire 1 day before the treatment, at 3 months postop and at 1 year postop.

"Significant differences were found in the answers of the [collagen cross-linking and combined treatment] groups. Patients who underwent the combined procedure reported a more significant improvement in quantity and quality of vision and in the performance of several daily tasks," Dr. Labiris said.