Healing of resistant corneal neurotrophic ulcers using a matrix regenerating agent.

PURPOSE: To assess the success rate of a matrix regenerating agent (RGTA) in the treatment of chronic corneal ulcers resistant to conventional treatments.

METHODS

Uncontrolled prospective observational study in patients with corneal neurotrophic ulcer (Stage 2 or 3 of the Mackie classification), unresponsive to standard medical or surgical treatments and managed with RGTA as an adjunctive treatment. Corneal ulcers were evaluated using slit-lamp examination and optical coherence tomography after 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months. Success was defined as complete corneal healing.

RESULTS

RGTA was administered to 20 patients (20 eyes) with chronic corneal ulcers of various causes, including keratoplasty (7 eyes, 35.0%), herpetic keratitis (5 eyes, 25.0%) and intracorneal ring (3 eyes, 15.0%). Total corneal healing was observed in 13/20 patients (65.0%) within 1 to 3 months. RGTA was discontinued due to partial healing/ulcer stagnation in 6 patients (30.0%), and aggravation of the ulcer in 1 patient (5.0%). Relapses were reported in 4 patients (20.0%) several months after cessation of RGTA treatment. No adverse reactions were noted.

CONCLUSIONS

In the event of failure of conventional treatments, RGTA may be an alternative medical treatment for patients with chronic corneal ulcers, avoiding the need to resort to surgical treatment.