Lamellar keratoplasty in a referral center in northeastern Brazil

Objective : To clinically characterize some cases of lamellar keratoplasty performed in a referral center of Rio Grande do Norte state. Methods : This is a cross-sectional, retrospective study, which is the review of the medical records of 18 patients who underwent keratoplasty of lamellar type in a referral service in Natal/RN. Results : it was found that of 18 patients who underwent keratoplasty, 55.56% were male, being all patients with deep anterior lamellar. Regarding the age group, 66.67% were thirty years old or less. The corneal vascularization of tissue was a factor receptor absent in 77.78% of cases. The main indication for lamellar keratoplasty were keratoconus (66.66%). Of the cases in which transplantation was done with urgency, ocular diagnoses were not infectious ulcerative keratitis (50%), corneal degeneration (25%) and leukoma (25%). Conclusion : it is cocluded that the main indicator condition for lamellar keratoplasty was keratoconus. Patients who underwent the procedure were 30 years old or less, with minimum level of corneal vascularization and absence of glaucoma. Furthermore, the surgical technique predominantly used for lamellar transplantation was the deep lamellar keratoplasty due to its advantages over penetrating keratoplasty.