Objective:

Identify the optical or therapeutic outcome of penetrating keratoplasty in patients with herpetic keratopathy.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in which a presentation was made of the results of the scope of penetrating keratoplasties for herpetic keratopathy performed at Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital in Havana.

Results:

The sample was 33 penetrating keratoplasties: 24 optical (72.7%) and 9 tectonic (27.3%). Visual acuity was lower than or equal to 0.3 in 5 of them. Of the total sample, 9 opacified, 11 had postoperative complications, 8 recurred in optical penetrating keratoplasties, and 6 in therapeutic penetrating keratoplasties. Rejection occurred in 7 optical penetrating keratoplasties (33.3%) and 4 therapeutic penetrating keratoplasties (4%). Complications were observed in 5 (25%) optical penetrating keratoplasties and 6 (55.6%) therapeutic penetrating keratoplasties. In the postoperative period 22 (66.6%) had a visual acuity greater than or equal to 0.3 (p= 0.0000).

Conclusions:

Inactivity of corneal viral disease benefits the prognosis of grafting due to herpetic keratopathy in opacities of optical keratoplasties. Pre- and postoperative antivirals were found to reduce the recurrence of herpetic disease on the graft and rejection, achieving better visual acuity and greater viability. Postoperative inflammatory severity is associated to an active viral disease or an immune disorder at the time of the grafting resulting in post keratoplasty complications.

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