title: Results of penetrating keratoplasty in syphilitic interstitial keratitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the results in our patient series after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) for syphilitic interstitial keratitis (IK) with those described in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case series in which visual acuity (VA), graft clarity, rejection episodes, intraocular pressure and endothelial cell density (ECD) were examined postoperatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Postoperative VA improved in all cases. There was no evidence of wound dehiscense or occurrence of retrocorneal membrane formation in any case. Postoperative inflammation was not more severe in our patients with syphilitic IK compared to patients undergoing PKP for other reasons. A normal decline in ECD proved that there was no subclinical inflammation as well.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PKP for syphilitic IK has a good prognosis in our case series as far as graft survival is concerned. Improvement in VA was present in all cases, though sometimes limited. In our case series, we experienced less postoperative complications than described in the older literature, which is probably due to better microsurgical techniques used nowadays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goegebuer
authors.forename: Lohiya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ajay
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Claerhout
authors.forename: Ph
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kestelyn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007634:Keratitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013587:Syphilis / Q000150:complications*; D016896:Treatment Outcome