Acyclovir Therapy in Prevention of Recurrent Herpetic Keratiti Following Penetrating Keratoplaty Original Reearch Article

Purpoe To compare ytemic v topical acyclovir therapy for the prevention of recurrence of herpetic keratiti following penetrating keratoplaty (PK). Deign A retropective obervational tudy. Method Patient who underwent PK for herpetic eye dieae (HED) and prophylactically received acyclovir therapy potoperatively, either ytemically (26 eye) or topically (29 eye), were analyzed. The main parameter evaluated were recurrence of herpetic keratiti, graft rejection, viual acuity, and graft urvival rate. Reult Mean average follow-up period wa 24.7 ± 3.6 month and 23.5 ± 2.3 month in the ytemic and topical group, repectively (P = 0.73). The average duration of prophylactic antiviral therapy in ytemic group wa 16.1 ± 4.8 month and in topical group wa 15.1 ± 3.5 month (P = .59). Recurrence of herpetic keratiti wa een in 12% in the ytemic group compared to 55% in the topical group (P < .001). More eye in topical group 15 (52%) had rejection epiode than in the ytemic group 5 (19%) (P < .001). A bet-corrected viual acuity of ≥ 20/40 wa achieved in 31% and 7% eye in the ytemic and topical group, repectively, at the end of two year (P = .002). The clear graft urvival rate in the ytemic and topical acyclovir receiving group wa 96.2% v 86.2% at 12 month, and 88.5% v 65.5% at 24 month, repectively. Concluion ytemic acyclovir i more effective than topical acyclovir in achieving better graft outcome after PK for HED.