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Mitomycin-C effective in halting PRK haze
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Mitomycin-C was effective in preventing the formation of haze when prophylactically applied to the corneas of patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy, according to a study presented here.
Francesco Carones, MD, found a significant difference in haze between treatment and control patients and significantly better results across all measures of visual outcomes in the treatment group. He presented his results here at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting.
Thirty patients were randomly assigned to photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) treatment with mitomycin-C (MMC) and another 30 patients were randomized to receive PRK without MMC. MMC was applied directly to the stroma after photoablation for 2 minutes. The stroma was irrigated with sterile saline to remove any residual MMC. A bandage contact lens was placed on the eye, and patients used fluorometholone for 1 month.
All of the MMC-treated patients achieved 20/40 visual acuity postoperatively, compared with 83.8% of control eyes, said Dr. Carones. Of the MMC-treated eyes, 93% were 20/25, compared with 66.6% of the control eyes; 60% of the MMC-treated eyes were 20/20 compared with 30% of the control eyes. One-third of the MMC-treated eyes were better than 20/20, compared with 10% of the control eyes.
Dr. Carones said that "most of the 30 treated patients were within 0.5 D of intended correction at 6 months." Twice as many patients in the MMC group had 20/20 uncorrected visual acuity compared with the control group, he added.
"In my hands, the use of MMC in conjunction with PRK is the procedure of choice when doing PRK for high myopic corrections when one cannot do a LASIK procedure because there is not enough tissue," he said.
More information on Dr. Carones' study is in the Dec. 1 issue of Ocular Surgery News.