Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Refractive Autokeratoplasty: A Pilot Study

Purpose: To develop a new method of femtosecond laser-assisted refractive autokeratoplasty (FRAK) in advanced keratoconus and to evaluate preliminarily early clinical results. Methods: A total of 17 patients with stable advanced keratoconus and a mean age of 33 ± 8.4 years were included in the study. FRAK was performed in all cases with the IntraLase 60 kHz (Abbott Medical Optics Inc.). A 2-step resection of corneal stroma was performed using the femtosecond laser, with the generation of a circular corneal flap with wedge-shaped profile. After flap removal, the corneal wound was sutured. Results: The surgical procedure and early postoperative period were uneventful in all cases. Mean uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) improved significantly from 0.07 ± 0.03 preoperatively to 0.26 ± 0.13 at 3 months after surgery. Improvement in corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) was observed in 94.1% of cases, with 76.5% of eyes showing an improvement of more than 3 lines. Between 3 and 6 months after surgery, an additional improvement was observed in UDVA and CDVA. Corneal cylinder decreased significantly from 9.1 ± 3.8 D preoperatively to 4.4 ± 2.75 D at 6 months postoperatively. Conclusions: FRAK may be an alternative treatment in stable advanced keratoconus, allowing a significant visual improvement and corneal regularization while saving the patient's own corneal tissue. The non-penetrating nature of the surgical technique helps to minimize the risks associated to this type of surgery. Further research is needed to determine the functional long-term outcomes.