ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of simultaneous amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT), status of the cornea (own cornea vs. graft) and underlying disease on the success and recurrence rates of autologous serum (AS) in therapy-resistant epithelial defects. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2007 and 2019, 990 treatments with AS in 703 eyes of 645 patients were retrospectively examined. The presence of erosion or ulcer, use of AMT, status of the cornea and the underlying disease were recorded. Epithelial closure rate within 4 weeks and the recurrence rate after epithelial closure were main outcome measures. The median observation period was 50 months. RESULTS: Epithelial closure was seen in 73.6% and recurrence in 27.4%. AMT was used significantly more often for ulcers (pâ¯< 0.001) and recurrences (pâ¯= 0.048). Without AMT, there was a significantly higher epithelial closure rate (pâ¯< 0.001) and faster healing tendency (pâ¯< 0.001). There was no difference between own corneas and grafts with respect to epithelial closure rate (pâ¯= 0.47). On the grafts there was a significantly higher recurrence rate (pâ¯= 0.004) and faster recurrence (pâ¯= 0.03), especially ≤6 months after epithelial closure. The underlying diseases showed a significant difference in epithelial closure rate (pâ¯= 0.02) and recurrence rate (pâ¯< 0.001) with highest success in corneal dystrophies and lowest in congenital aniridia. CONCLUSION: AS is an effective therapeutic option for therapy-resistant epithelial defects. There was a high success rate for the grafts but with a higher tendency to develop recurrences. In cases of simultaneous AMT, a reduced success rate can be expected, due to the higher complexity of the given situation. AS can be used successfully in various underlying diseases, with limitations in case of congenital aniridia.
