PURPOSE: To identify the main complications and causes of penetrating keratoplasty failure in interventions performed at Fundação Altino Ventura, Recife-PE. METHODS: Medical records of 205 patients submitted to penetrating keratoplasty at the Fundação Altino Ventura, between January 1999 and December 2000, and with a follow-up after surgery of at least six months were revised. We analyzed demographic and other associated data from the pre, inter and post intervention periods. RESULTS: The average age of patients was 48.4 ± 22.1 years, 108 (52.7%) being female. The main indications for penetrating keratoplasty were keratoconus (49 cases, 23.9%), bullous keratopathy after cataract extraction (48 cases, 23.4%) and dystrophies (24 cases, 11.7%). The most common post-surgery complication was glaucoma in 65 cases (31.7%). Fifty patients (24.4%) presented some clinical sign of rejection, leading to graft failure in 13 cases (26.0%). It was observed that 16.0% (n=8) of the patients with graft rejection had been submitted to at least three interventions, which shows a statistically significant difference from the group which showed no rejection (3.2%, n=5) (p<0.05). Forty-five (22.0%) cases developed corneal graft failure. CONCLUSION: The risk factors for graft failure identified in this study match those reported in the literature. Glaucoma was the main post-surgery complication and the main predisposing factor for rejection and graft failure.
Keratoplasty penetrating; Post-operative complications; Treatment outcome
