Corneal dystrophies: A decade of experience in a reference center in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Purpose: To describe sociodemographic findings, frequency, and clinical characteristics of patients with corneal dystrophy who consulted an ophthalmologic national reference center in Bogotá-Colombia in 10 years.Methods: Observational, descriptive case series study was carried out. The information was obtained from reviewing medical records of patients who consulted the cornea service at an ophthalmologic national reference center in Bogotá-Colombia between 2008 and 2018. The diagnosis of corneal dystrophy was done according to the International Committee for Corneal Dystrophies classification, as well as the currently accepted specific name of the dystrophy. The type of dystrophy, clinical, diagnostic findings, sociodemographic characteristics, and type of treatment were evaluated.Results: A total of 151 eyes of 79 patients were analyzed; 68.3% of subjects were female. The mean age was 57.6 ± 18.9 years, with a range between 2 and 95 years. The median best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in all the groups at diagnosis was 0.30 LogMAR (interquartile range 0.5) or 20/40 Snellen. Lattice dystrophy type 1 and its variants had the worse BCVA. Fuchs' dystrophy (FD) was the most frequently identified. Regarding treatment, 80.1% (n = 121) did not require any, and 11.9% (n = 18) had a corneal transplant. Thirteen underwent penetrating keratoplasty. Of those, two had a clinical diagnosis of TGFB1 dystrophy, three of stromal dystrophy, and eight of endothelial dystrophy. DSAEK was performed in 5 eyes four had endothelial dystrophy and one had unclassified dystrophy.Conclusions: Adults and females were the most affected groups. FD was the most frequent and unclassified dystrophies were the second most frequently diagnosed. This highlights the importance of complementary studies such as optical coherence tomography of the anterior segment and genetic markers which are not currently universally available in our healthcare system.Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee and was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.