Abstract:AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of femtosecond laser assisted MyoRing intrastromal corneal implant and deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) for management of moderate to advanced keratoconus regarding the degree of changes in visual acuity, refraction, corneal asphericity and aberrations. METHODS: A prospective non comparative interventional case study was conducted in Ophthalmology Department, Ain Shams University Hospital in the period from January 2015 to February 2017. The study included 30 eyes of moderate to advanced keratoconus. MyoRing was implanted in one eye (Group I) and DALK operation was performed in the contralateral eye of the same patient (Group II). Preoperative and 6mo post-operative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), spherical equivalent (SE), corneal and refractive astigmatisms, keratometry and Q-value using topography images were acquired. Quality of vision was assessed in all eyes including total corneal, anterior corneal high order aberrations analysis at 5 mm pupil size and the Strehl ratio of point spread function (PSF) as an objective measure of glare. RESULTS: Mean postoperative UCVA, CDVA, SE, refractive astigmatism, keratometry readings and asphericity were statistically improved compared to preoperative parameters in both groups (P<0.05). Significant reduction of all corneal aberrations following both techniques (P<0.05) was achieved except mean trefoil and mean PSF in Group I (P>0.05). Postoperative corneal aberrations were significantly lower in Group II compared to Group I. A statistically significant negative correlation was found in Group I between the mean change in CDVA (logMAR) and the mean preoperative and mean postoperative total corneal aberrations root mean square (RMS; r=-0.78, P=0.04). Also a statistically significant negative correlation was found between mean preoperative coma RMS and mean post PSF (r=-0.86, P=0.01). In Group II, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between mean change in CDVA (logMAR) and mean change in Kmax (r=0.87, P=0.01) and between mean change in refractive cylinder and mean postoperative PSF (r=0.76, P=0.05). CONCLUSION: Femtosecond laser assisted MyoRing and DALK are effective in improving visual acuities, refraction, corneal asphericity and aberrations. MyoRing reduced spherical error more than the corneal cylinder. Post operative homogenous corneal surface and good image quality were achieved following both techniques compared to the preoperative state. However, DALK results in better image quality and lower corneal aberrations.
