Objective: The objective of this review is to systematically examine the effectiveness of early adjuvant amniotic membrane transplant versus standard antimicrobial therapy for infectious keratitis.
Introduction: Infectious keratitis is a major cause of corneal blindness worldwide. Broad-spectrum topical antimicrobial therapy is currently the gold standard for treatment. Amniotic membrane transplant has been employed as an adjuvant therapy to promote corneal healing; however, high-quality evidence is limited.
Inclusion criteria: This review will consider studies that include patients of all ages with all types of infectious keratitis, including bacterial, fungal, viral, acanthamoeba, mixed, and culture-negative presumed infectious keratitis. The authors will exclude patients who have undergone other types of primary surgery other than amniotic membrane transplant during the initial management and those who had less than seven days' follow-up from the commencement of the treatment.
Methods: Electronic databases, including MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, and relevant registries, will be searched for pertinent studies. Titles, abstract, and full text of the relevant studies will be independently assessed by two reviewers. Extracted data will include authors, year of publication, sample size, types of amniotic membrane transplant techniques, types of causative microorganisms, main outcomes, visual acuity, and adverse events. No restriction will be applied to the date or language. Bibliographies of the included articles will be independently and manually screened by two authors to identify further relevant studies. Eligible studies will be critically appraised by two independent reviewers for methodological quality. A meta-analysis will be performed for the included randomized controlled trials when there are sufficient similarities.
Systematic review registration number: This systematic review has been registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020175593).