my personal edition > ophth. other > news


  E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

DGDispatch

Conductive Keratoplasty is a Safe and Effective Treatment for Presbyopia: Presented at AAO

By Deanna M Green, PhD

ANAHEIM, CA -- November 20, 2003 -- Conductive keratoplasty (CK) safely and effectively improves near and distance vision at 1 year in patients with presbyopia, according to findings presented here November 16^th at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2003 Annual Meeting.

CK is a non-ablative, collagen shrinking procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to change corneal curvature. CK was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2002 for the treatment of low to moderate hyperopia. Whether CK is also an effective treatment for patients with presbyopia is still under investigation.

Daniel S. Durrie, MD, at the Hunkeler Eye Center, Kansas City, Missouri, United States, and colleagues conducted a U.S. FDA clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CK in the treatment of presbyopia.

The study included 150 patients (mean age, 53) who sought treatment for presbyopia between +0.75D and +3.00D and </=0.75D cylinder. Hyperopia was corrected in the dominant eye to a mean 2.03D, and the non-dominant eye was overcorrected to produce myopia. Binocular uncorrected visual acuity was assessed up to 1 year after surgery.

At 6 and 12 months postoperatively, 84% of eyes could see at J3 (newspaper size print), while only 12% of patients could see this clearly before surgery. A significant improvement in distance vision was also observed, as 96% of patients had 20/20 vision compared to 77% who had 20/20 vision before surgery.

Overall, 83% of eyes could see binocularly at 20/20-distance and J3-near at 12 months after surgery. Moreover, 98% of patients had some degree of improvement in vision, and 95% showed moderate to extreme improvement.

Quality of depth perception and mesopic contrast sensitivity without glare were maintained throughout follow-up.

The procedure also appeared to be very safe. One percent of patients experienced a greater than two-line reduction in BSCVA-D at 6 months, though no patients had this degree of vision loss at 1 year. Only 4% of patients were dissatisfied with the procedure at 12 months.

"CK effectively improved vision in presbyopic patients," Dr. Durrie concluded. "CK has exceptional safety regarding loss of >2 lines of BSCVA or induced cylinder."


[Study title: USFDA Presbyopic Clinical Trial Results of Conductive Keratoplasty for Near Vision Restoration. Abstract PO101]

E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

To print, use this version