Purpose: To perform a retrospective study to evaluate the long-term outcome of systemic cyclosporine treatment as an adjunct to topical corticosteroid treatment after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP).
Methods: Twenty-six high-risk patients (27 eyes) who received systemic cyclosporine following PKP for an average of 5.4 months were compared with another series of 57 patients (57 eyes) who did not receive cyclosporine after PKP.
Results: Endothelial rejection developed in 2 cases during cyclosporine treatment and in 6 cases after discontinuation. The rate of rejection-free graft survival was similar between the treated and the control groups. The control group showed a significantly higher rate of graft survival than the treated group. As side effects in the treatment group, transient elevation in blood urea nitrogen or creatine developed in 7 cases. Increase in glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) or glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) developed in 4 cases. Severe side effects were absent throughout the series in both groups of patients.
Conclusion: Systemic cyclosporine treatment for several months did not reduce the incidence of rejection nor improve the rate of graft clarity in the long term in high-risk patients after PKP.