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The Role of Adjuvant Corneal Crosslinking in the Management of Infective Keratitis

Early Phase 1
Completed
Conditions
Infective Keratitis
Interventions
Drug: Topical Antimicrobial/Antifungal Medications
Procedure: Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking Solutions
Registration Number
NCT06967376
Lead Sponsor
Research Institute of Ophthalmology, Egypt
Brief Summary

This was a prospective, single centre, randomised controlled study to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of corneal collagen crosslinking as an adjuvant to antimicrobial therapy.

Detailed Description

This randomised controlled study of forty eyes of forty patients was conducted to assess the impact of corneal collagen crosslinking in addition to antimicrobial therapy.

All forty patients presenting with infective keratitis of various aetiologies (bacterial, fungal, acanthamoeba) were screened and then randomly allocated equally to two groups (A and B). Group A patients were to be offered standard targeted anti-microbial therapy whilst group B were offered CXL in addition to the standard targeted anti-microbial therapy.

Patients were evaluated clinically for visual acuity; infection parameters and dimensions were measured on slit lamp and optical coherence tomography. Evaluations were noted at the baseline visit and subsequently on days 7, 14, and day 30 of treatment

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
40
Inclusion Criteria

• Patients presenting with infectious keratitis

Exclusion Criteria
  • Infective keratitis < 1mm from limbus
  • Corneal thickness < 350μm
  • Previous herpetic eye disease
  • Expectant and nursing women

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Arm that take medical treatment only for infective keratitisTopical Antimicrobial/Antifungal MedicationsOn presentation, all pre-existing treatment was stopped for 48 hours and corneal scrapes for direct smears and cultures using blood agar, chocolate agar, thioglycolate broth and sabouraud dextrose agar were done. Initial antimicrobial therapy for both groups consisted of fortified vancomycin eye drops 50 mg/ml, fortified ceftazidime eye drops 50 mg/ml hourly, and the antifungal agent itraconazole 100 mg orally twice per day. This regimen was subject to change according to microbiology culture sensitivities and/or results.
Arm of patients take cross linking as an adjuvant treatment to medical treatmentCorneal Collagen Cross-Linking SolutionsPatients allocated to the PACK-CXL group were assessed and treated by PACK-CXL within 2 days of treatment initiation. Topical anaesthesia was achieved using 0.4% benoxinate hydrochloride drops. Epithelium was removed up to 9 mm diameter. Corneal thickness of the area to be treated was measured (without epithelium) aiming for a starting thickness of no less than 350μm. Corneas thicker than 500μm were dehydrated to reduce thickness by using 70% Glycerol drops applied topically at intervals of 2-3 seconds for a total of five minutes. A schematic representation of PACK-CXL protocol is provided in Figure 1. Iso-osmolar riboflavin drops were instilled topically on the cornea at regular intervals of 2 minutes for a total period of 30 minutes. Thickness was also re-measured every 5 min to ensure that it remained below 500µm during instillation of riboflavin. The cornea was illuminated using a UVX, UV-A 365 nm with an irradiance of 3 mW/cm2 for 30 minutes and a total dose of 5.4 J/cm2 during
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
clinical responseAt presentation; and then on day 7, day 14 and day 30 of commencing treatment

Ulcer dimensions will be studied on slit lamp and AS-OCT.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Research Institute of Ophthalmology

🇪🇬

Giza, Egypt

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