Objectives:

To describe the clinical results of limbal stem cell graft of cadaveric donor in patients with bilateral limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD).

Materials and methods:

Prospective, longitudinal and observational study where patients with bilateral LSCD undergoing surgery using cadaveric donor limbal stem cell graft were evaluated. Visual acuity, symblepharon, conjunctivalization, neovascularization, keratinization and corneal opacity were evaluated before and after surgery, with a follow-up to 6 months. We considered a successful treatment with improvement of 4 of 6 criteria. Limbal stem cells graft was obtained from remaining sclerocorneal caps of cadaveric donors, from corneal transplant surgeries.

Results:

We included 6 patients with bilateral LSCD and 1 patient with unilateral deficiency. The average age was 34.1 (range 16-59 years). The most common etiology was corneal burn (57.14%) followed by Stevens Johnson Syndrome (42.86%). Using the statistical analysis of chi2, no significant difference was observed in visual acuity (p = 0.504), however a significant difference was observed in symblepharon (p = 0.007), neovascularization (p = 0.009), opacity (p = 0.016), conjunctivalization (p = 0.004) and keratinization (p = 0.001) both from baseline to 6 months follow-up.

Conclusions:

This is a pilot and exploratory study, which analyzes the results of the limbal stem cells graft from cadaveric donors being a successful and reliable technique to improve the ocular surface conditions in bilateral LSCD but not in visual acuity. It could be useful for future studies where the number of patients is expanded and followed up for at least one year.

        · texto en Inglés     · Inglés ( pdf )