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Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of trans-epithelial phototherapeutic keratectomy (trans-PTK) for treating recurrent corneal erosion (RCE).
Methods A retrospective case series study was conducted. Thirty-eight patients (38 eyes) diagnosed with RCE who underwent trans-PTK at Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital were enrolled from January 2021 to June 2023. Subjective symptom score, uncorrected distance vision (UDVA), best corrected distance vision (CDVA), spherical equivalent (SE), and corneal endothelial cell count were recorded before surgery and at 5 days, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery. The postoperative safety index and efficacy index, recurrence rate, corneal epithelial healing status, and presence of corneal haze were evaluated. This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki, and the research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital (No. 2020KY[L]-67). All patients signed the written informed consent prior to the surgery.
Results There were statistically significant overall differences in subjective symptom score, UDVA and CDVA at different time points before and after surgery ( F=128.634, 3.292, 22.845; all P<0.05). Compared with the preoperative levels, postoperative subjective symptom scores at all follow-up time points were lower and postoperative UDVA and CDVA at all follow-up time points were better, with statistically significant differences (all P<0.05). There were no significant differences in SE or corneal endothelial cell count ( F=1.534, 0.058; both P>0.05). At 6 months after surgery, the safety index and efficacy index were 3.06±2.65 and 0.76±0.75, respectively. At 1 month after surgery, only 1 eye (accounting for 2.63%) developed delayed healing of corneal epithelium, 3 eyes (accounting for 7.89%) developed grade 0.5 haze, with corneas turning smooth and transparent after topical glucocorticoid treatment. No recurrence occurred during the follow-up period.
Conclusions Trans-PTK has good safety and efficacy in the treatment of RCE.