title: [The clinical results of femtosecond laser-assisted deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty in patients with keratoconus].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical results and safety of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in patients with keratoconus assisted by a femtosecond laser.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six eyes of 5 patients with keratoconus underwent DALK procedures by using a femtosecond laser. The mean thinnest corneal thickness, evaluated with ultrasound and measurement of visual acuity by using the standard logarithm visual chart. A femtosecond laser was used to perform corneal cuts on both donor and recipient corneas. The data were expressed as mean ± SD. Mean follow-up was (8.9 ± 2.3) month (range, 5-12 months) .
  
  
  RESULTS
  Corneal pachymetry was (385 ± 48) µm (range, 380-460 µm) . Mean preoperative uncorrected visual acuity was 0.06 ± 0.06 (range,0.01-0.15) and mean preoperative best spectacle-corrected visual acuity was 0.41 ± 0.35 (range,0.12-1.00) . The donor corneal lamella diameters were 0.20 mm larger and thicker than the recipient to restore a physiologic corneal thickness and shape. Mean donor diameter was (7.8 ± 0.2) mm (range, 7.3-8.0 mm) and mean thickness was (372 ± 40) µm (range, 350-400 µm) .Early postoperative evaluation showed a clear graft in all cases. Mean corneal thickness was (459 ± 36) µm (range, 389-488 µm) . At the last postoperative examination mean uncorrected visual acuity was 0.32 ± 0.19 (range, 0.12-0.60) , and the mean best corrected visual acuity was 0.58 ± 0.29 (range,0.20-1.00) . The UCVA and BCVA improved significantly after surgery (t = -4.433, -3.348, P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our early results indicate that femtosecond laser-assisted deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty shows promise as a safe and effective surgical choice in the treatment of keratoconus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Xianyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Xiangfei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Yirui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command PLA, Nanjing 210002, China. Email: huangzhenping1963@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhenping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D048988:Corneal Surgery, Laser / Q000379:methods*; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D005139:Eyeglasses; D006801:Humans; D007640:Keratoconus / Q000601:surgery*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014792:Visual Acuity