Boston KPro experience in Barcelona

Abstract Purpose To describe the indications, intraoperative complications, post‐operative complications and anatomical and functional results of Type I Boston keratoprosthesis at our eye center in Barcelona. Methods Retrospective interventional case series on 24 eyes of 22 patients who underwent Boston keratoprosthesis implant from May 2006 to May 2008. Results The main indication for Boston keratoprosthesis implantation was a repeated failed graft (mean = 2.33 previous grafts). The most common principal pathologies were: bullous keratopathy, herpetic keratitis, aniridic keratopathy, corneal ectasia, calcific band keratopathy. No major intraoperative complications were noted and average time of surgery was 47 minutes. The mean follow‐up time was 7.42 months. The major post‐operative complications encountered were retroprosthetic membrane in 2 eyes, endophthalmitis in 2 eyes and corneal graft melting in 1 eye. The mean best corrected visual acuity improved from 0.015 pre‐operatively to 0.1 post‐operatively. Only one case of extrusion due to melting was encountered which was resolved by a reimplantation of the keratoprosthesis. Conclusion Our short‐term experience with the type I Boston Keratoprosthesis is a good alternative for patients with repeated graft failures. Improvement in visual acuity is immediate and only minor complications were encountered.