Purpose: To report early safety and efficacy of Descemet stripping only (DSO) supplemented with ripasudil.
Methods: A pre-post clinical trial with a historical control group for time to heal and cell count parameters. The study received ethics approval and was conducted with oversight of a data safety monitoring board. All enrolled patients had a superior endothelial cell count of >1000 cells/mm2 and were symptomatic from the presence of central guttata degrading vision and/or producing glare. DSO was carried out with a peeling technique and not combined with any other intervention. Ripasudil 0.4% was applied topically from day 1 postoperatively at a dose of 6 times/d until corneal clearance. Cases with relapse of edema were permitted to restart on ripasudil at a reduced dose of 2 drops/d for a further 2 weeks. Stopping rules with progression to a corneal graft were established. Baseline ocular and systemic investigations were carried out and repeated at varying intervals to monitor for local and systemic adverse events.
Results: Twenty-three eyes of 23 patients met the inclusion criteria and underwent DSO. Twenty-two of 23 eyes achieved corneal clearance at a mean time of 4.1 weeks. In all patients achieving clearance, improvement in vision was recorded. Improvement in mean uncorrected visual acuity was 0.20 Logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMar), and improvement in mean best spectacle corrected visual acuity was 0.156 LogMar. One patient failed to clear and underwent Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty at week 12. Twenty-one of 22 patients achieving corneal clearance expressed satisfaction with the procedure. The commonest systemic side effect of topical ripasudil was gastrointestinal upset (24%), and the commonest local side effect was ocular irritation (43%). No patient experienced a serious adverse event in the course of the trial. Thirty-nine percent of patients experienced a relapse of edema on ceasing ripasudil, with clearance again on recommencing.
Conclusions: This trial of DSO supplemented with ripasudil included local and systemic safety analysis. We judge that this treatment option is emerging as a reliable intervention for select patients with Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD) with an acceptable safety profile. The observation of relapse edema is strong evidence of a drug effect. The longevity of these results remains unknown.
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