Therapeutic surgery in failures of medical treatment for fungal keratitis.
Medical treatment failure necessitated surgery in nine cases of fungal keratitis. Therapeutic surgery eliminated fungal infection in seven cases, and useful vision was retained in five out of six penetrating keratoplasties. In three cases Natamycin (Pimaricin) therapy rendered fungi non-viable, but two were demonstrable by histopathology. These results suggest that antifungal treatment should be applied for as long as possible before therapeutic surgery in order to improve the final visual outcome.
D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000601:surgery; D016039:Corneal Transplantation; D005670:Fusarium; D006801:Humans; D007634:Keratitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D010866:Natamycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013997:Time Factors; D014180:Transplantation; D014792:Visual Acuity
D010866:Natamycin