This study was comprised of 18 eyes of 9 patients with stable, frank keratoconus. Of 12 patients identified with having keratoconus that underwent phacoemulsification with trifocal IOL implantation between 2016 and 2019, 2 patients did not respond to the invitation and 1 patient was not invited due to an IOL exchange procedure which he had because of intolerable ocular side effects. There were 9 patients willing and eligible to participate in this study and were included in the analysis. There were 6 women (67%) and 3 men (33%), mean age was 55.89 ± 8.89 years of age (range 40 to 71). Mean follow up time was 31.22 ± 6.38 months (range 23 to 42). Ten eyes (56%) underwent cataract surgery and 8 (44%) had a refractive lens exchange. Preoperative data is shown in Table 1.
All patients had frank keratoconus of which stage I was identified in 8 eyes (44%), stage II in 7 eyes (39%) and stage III in 3 eyes (17%) using the Amsler-Krumeich classification. Four eyes (22%) had previous CXL.
Refractive And Visual Outcomes
The data analysis showed postoperative binocular UDVA 0.02 ± 0.07 logMAR (range 0.22 to 0.00). An improvement was seen in monocular mean UDVA from 1.13 ± 0.93 to 0.10 ± 0.17 logMAR (p˂0.01), CDVA from 0.10 ± 0.11 to 0.05 ± 0,.9 (p = 0.198), MRSE from − 4.34 ± 4.31 to 0.05 ± 0.51 (p˂0.01) and manifest astigmatism from 2.44 ± 1.92 to 0.88 ± 1.81 D (p˂0.05). The study showed a statistically important improvement in UDVA, MRSE and astigmatism and a non-significant improvement in CDVA using the Welch’s and Brown-Forsythe test. Postoperative visual outcomes are shown in Table 2.
Improvement in UDVA was seen in 17 eyes (94%), CDVA in 8 eyes (44%), MRSE in 14 eyes (78%) and astigmatism also in 14 eyes (78%), which is graphically presented in Fig. 1. Target refraction of less than ± 0.50 D was achieved in 17 eyes (94%), one eye exhibited a hyperopic MRSE. Three eyes (17%) lost 1 line of CDVA and no eye lost 2 or more lines. The eyes that lost 1 line of CDVA had stage I, II and III keratoconus, one eye each. The overall safety index of the procedure, which is the ratio of mean postoperative to mean preoperative CDVA at final visit, was 1,09.
Biometry And Tomography
Postoperative biometry showed that eyes had an AL of 24.99 ± 2.09 mm (range 21.12 to 27.68) and total spherical equivalent 44.78 ± 1.89 (range 42.93 to 50.62). Anterior chamber depth (ACD) changed from 3.71 ± 0.4 to 4.9 ± 0.47 mm (latter range 4.25 to 5.59). Tomography showed a mean K2 of 45.57 ± 2.44 (range 43.3 to 53.3), Kmax 48.13 ± 3.52 (range 44.0 to 56.6), overall astigmatism 1.96 ± 1.52 (range 0.4 to 5.0) and ARTmax value of 226.5 ± 87.72 (range 91.0 to 464.0).
There was no significant change between pre- and postoperative AL, K1, K2, Kmax, overall corneal astigmatism and ARTmax values.
Contrast Sensitivity
The test was done using four spatial frequencies 3, 6, 12 and 18 cyc/deg. Mean monocular values of Log10 contrast sensitivity for these spatial frequencies were 1.95 ± 0.27, 1.99 ± 0.36, 1.33 ± 0.45 and 1.08 ± 0.35, respectively. Mean binocular values were 2.05 ± 0.10, 2.14 ± 0.18, 1.45 ± 0.41 and 1.22 ± 0.48, respectively. The results are shown in Fig. 2.
Ocular Aberrometry
The ocular wave-front aberrations were analyzed for a 4 mm diameter circular area, the data for the 6 mm diameter were not available for all patients. The analysis showed that the degree of aberrations was highly dependent of the pupil size. The mean root-mean-square (RMS) of coma, trefoil and spherical aberration were 0.39 ± 0.29 µm (range 0.10 to 1.27), 0.2 ± 0.13 µm (range 0.05 to 0.44) and 0.10 ± 0.09 µm (0.01 to 0.3), respectively. The mean total higher order aberrations (HOA) were 0.64 ± 0.49 µm (range 0.16 to 2.06). The results are shown in Fig. 3.
Patient-reported Outcomes And Satisfaction
The questionnaire results showed that independence of glasses was present in 7 out of 9 patients (78%). One patient (11%) needed glasses for reading, 1 (11%) used glasses most of the time for all distances and 1 (11%) used glasses sometimes for reading and very rarely for intermediate distance. The patients had very little problems driving with a mean score of 1,86 ± 0,90 (range 1 to 3) on a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 meaning they could not drive due to severe eye problems. Night driving problems reached a score of 2.29 ± 1.10 (range 1 to 5). One patient (11%) did not drive a car and another (11%) drove a car only during daytime due to other reasons. Whether patients’ sight caused them trouble in everyday life on a scale from 0 to 5, with 5 causing severe problems, a score of 1.33 ± 1,0 (range 0 to 3) was reached.
All patients exhibited glare, halos and starburst. Blurred vision was present in all patients but one (89%). An analog scale from 0 to 5 was used to assess the intensity, frequency and the level of disturbance of ocular side effects, with 0 meaning the patient had no problems and 5 meaning very severe/intense/constant problems. The overall intensity of ocular side effects was 2.56 ± 1.32, frequency 2.81 ± 1.6 and level of disturbance 2.39 ± 1.48.
Five out of 9 patients (55,5%) were very happy with the outcome defined by the score 4 and 5 out of 5 with a mean score of 3.44 ± 1.13 (range 0 to 5). The quality of life improvement after surgery reached a score of 4.0 ± 0.71 (range 3 to 5). When asked whether they would refer a friend or family member to undergo surgery if they were in a similar situation, 7 (78%) said yes and two (22%) were undetermined. Details on the questionnaire results can be found in Table 3.
Table 1
|
Mean ± SD
|
Range
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
No. of eyes
|
18
|
|
|
|
Female : male
|
2:1 (6:3)
|
|
|
|
Age (years)
|
|
55.89 ± 8.89
|
40
|
71
|
Follow up time (months)
|
|
31.22 ± 6.38
|
23
|
42
|
UDVA (logMAR)
|
|
1.13 ± 0.93
|
2.30
|
0,.0
|
CDVA(logMAR)
|
|
0.10 ± 0.11
|
0.30
|
0.00
|
MRSE
|
|
-4.34 ± 4.31
|
-11.50
|
1.50
|
Manifest Astigmatism
|
|
2.44 ± 1.92
|
0.00
|
-7.00
|
K1
|
|
43.61 ± 1.75
|
41.40
|
48.00
|
K2
|
|
45.64 ± 2.30
|
43.50
|
52.40
|
Kmax
|
|
48.13 ± 3.52
|
44.00
|
56.60
|
ARTmax
|
|
234.67 ± 109.80
|
98.00
|
510.00
|
Keratoconus Stage (A-K)
|
|
1.72 ± 0.75
|
1
|
3
|
AL (mm)
|
|
25.01 ± 2.07
|
21.17
|
27.74
|
ACD (mm)
|
|
3.71 ± 0.40
|
3.10
|
4.43
|
AL = axial lenght, ACD = anterior chamber depth
|
Table 2
Postoperative visual outcomes (logMAR)
|
Mean ± SD
|
Range
|
95% Confidence Interval of the mean
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Lower
|
Upper
|
Monocular
|
|
|
|
|
|
UDVA
|
0.10 ± 0.17
|
0.70
|
0.00
|
0.18
|
0.01
|
UIVA
|
0.43 ± 0.18
|
1.0
|
0.30
|
0.52
|
0.34
|
UNVA
|
0.23 ± 0.17
|
0.70
|
0.00
|
0.32
|
0.15
|
CDVA
|
0.05 ± 0.09
|
0.30
|
0.00
|
0.10
|
0.01
|
CIVA
|
0.28 ± 0.16
|
0.70
|
0.10
|
0.36
|
0.20
|
CNVA
|
0.19 ± 0.17
|
0.60
|
0.00
|
0.27
|
0.11
|
Binocular
|
|
|
|
|
|
UDVA
|
0.02 ± 0.07
|
0.22
|
0.00
|
0.08
|
-0.03
|
UIVA
|
0.31 ± 0.08
|
0.48
|
0.18
|
0.37
|
0.25
|
UNVA
|
0.11 ± 0.12
|
0.30
|
0.00
|
0.20
|
0.02
|
CDVA
|
0.02 ± 0.05
|
0.15
|
0.00
|
0.06
|
-0.02
|
CIVA
|
0.16 ± 0.13
|
0.40
|
0.00
|
0.26
|
0.06
|
CNVA
|
0.05 ± 0.10
|
0.30
|
0.00
|
0.13
|
-0.02
|
MRSE (D)
|
0.05 ± 0.51
|
-0.50
|
2.00
|
-0.20
|
0,30
|
Astigmatism (D)
|
− 0.88 ± 1.81
|
0.00
|
− 8.00
|
0.02
|
− 1.77
|
Table 3
|
Mean ± SD
|
Range
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Overall ocular side effects
|
|
|
|
Intensity
|
2.56 ± 1.32
|
0
|
5
|
Frequency
|
2.81 ± 1.60
|
0
|
5
|
Disturbance level
|
2.39 ± 1.48
|
0
|
5
|
Day-time driving problems
|
1.86 ± 0.90
|
0
|
3
|
Night-time driving problems
|
2.29 ± 1.11
|
0
|
4
|
Overall visual problems in everyday life
|
1.33 ± 1.0
|
0
|
3
|
Overall satisfaction with current vision
|
3.44 ± 1.13
|
1
|
5
|
Improvement in quality of life after surgery
|
4.00 ± 0.71
|
3
|
5
|
Ocular Side Effects include blurred vision, glare, halos and starburst
|
We calculated the Pearson correlation coefficients of all attributes and discovered that anterior chamber depth was the single most important variable connected with the intensity (p ˂ 0,01), frequency (p ˂ 0.05) and the disturbance level (p ˂ 0.01) of glare, intensity (p ˂ 0.05) and disturbance level (p ˂ 0.05) of halos and disturbance level (p ˂ 0.01) of starburst. The correlation was inverse meaning that patients with a deeper ACD had fewer ocular side effects. Patients with a better preoperative uncorrected distance visual acuity exhibited intense and disturbing glare (p ˂ 0.05) and starburst (p ˂ 0.05). A higher preoperative spherical equivalent was associated with the intensity and frequency of blurred vision (p ˂ 0.05). A higher K2 was associated with a worse outcome including CDVA and UDVA (p ˂ 0.01). Interestingly self-reported satisfaction with the visual outcomes had no statistically significant correlations with any objective or other subjective outcomes including postoperative MRSE, CDVA, UDVA, HOA and contrast sensitivity.