title: Endothelial analysis in patients having corneal intrastromal surgery with Cornealring for correction of Keratoconus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate corneal endothelium by means of specular microscopy exam in patients with Keratoconus, before and after Cornealring® corneal intrastromal ring surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and two eyes of 67 patients, aged between 12 and 45, with the average age of 27.31 ± 8.15 years, 30 females and 37 males, were selected to be submitted to the implant of Cornealring® corneal ring segments in pre- and post-surgery (six months after the procedure) in the External Diseases and Cornea Ward of the Instituto Panamericano da Visão.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 102 eyes treated, only those that received two rings of equal thickness up to 250 µ showed statistical significance between the initial and final mean number of endothelial cells (P = 0.008), a decrease of 10.1% in the mean coefficient of variation (P = 0.003), and a 9.75% decrease in initial and final hexagonal cell counts. The other eyes receiving rings of other thicknesses showed no statistically significant differences between the mean initial and final SM examinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A longer segment is necessary for the confirmation or not of the alterations found in this study, particularly regarding the thickness of the ring used, because with the new technologies and the improvement in the result of deep lamellar transplantation, the decrease in the cell count might represent a problem in the indication of this procedure following thick corneal ring implants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Service of Cornea and External Diseases, Federal University of Goiás - Centre for Excellence in Ophthalmology, Goiânia, Brazil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salustiano
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Avila
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: R Z
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Rannouche
authors.forename: L X
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Salustiano
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Paula
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000601:surgery*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007640:Keratoconus / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate