1. Authors have no financial interest.
The effectiveness of 0.05% topical cyclosporine A to graft rejection in various corneal transplantations
Jae-Woong Koh (MD/PhD)1, Jung-Hyun Park (MD)1 Gil-Joong Yoon (MD/PhD) 2
Department of Ophthalmology, Chosun University College of
Medicine, Gwangju, Republic of Korea 1
Happy Eye Clinic, Gwangju, Republic of Korea 2
Authors have no financial interest.

2. Dr. Koh
Dr. Park
Dr. Yoon

3. Purpose
To evaluate the effectiveness of 0.05% topical cyclosporine A to graft rejection in various corneal transplantations.

4. Methods Nonrandomized prospective study
The 39 patients (39 eyes) who underwent keratoplasty in Chosun University Hospital from March 2005 until March 2007
Group A : 1% prednisolone acetate* % cyclosporin A* (18 eyes) Group B : 1% prednisolone acetate* % cyclosporin A** (10 eyes) Group C : topical 1% prednisolone acetate only* (11 eye)
( * : start immediately after operation/
** : start 6months after operation)

5. Treatment regimen PK = Penetrating Keratoplasty CsA : Cyclosporine A
Regimens (Months after post operation) A B C
Start of topical CsA
Immediately 6 No
Oral predisolone discontinued 3
Topical predisolone tapering start
Topical predisolone discontinued 12
PK = Penetrating Keratoplasty
CsA : Cyclosporine A
( * : start immediately after operation/ ** : start 6months after operation)

6. Patient`s distribution and failure rate
Group A
Group B
Group C
Subject (n) 18 10 11
Male: Female (n)
11: 7
8: 2
11: 0
Age (yrs) mean
54.03
48.11
44.27
Rejection episode n (%)
2 (11)
1 (10)
5 (45)

7. Preopearative diagnosis of the patient
Preoperation Diagnosis
Group A
Group B
Group C
Keratoconus, n (%)
1 (5)
0 (0)
1 (9)
Corneal dystrophy, n (%)
1 (10)
Bullous keratopathy, n (%)
2 (11)
3 (30)
5 (45)
Corneal opacity*, n (%)
4 (22)
2 (18)
Corneal perforation, n (%)
3 (16)
Corneal ulcer, n (%)
8 (44)
* Corneal opacity of unknown etiology

8. Result
Compared to Group C, Group A and B, which used both topical steroid and cyclosporine A, have occurred lower corneal transplants rejection (P=0.033).
Application of time for Cyclosporin A 0.05% had no effectiveness on rejection of corneal transplants.( P=0.172)
The period of rejection for transplants in group C was observed occuring earlier than the other 2 groups, there is no significance in statistics. (P=0.149)

9. Result

10. Conclusions
Combination treatment of 1% prednisolone acetate and 0.05% cyclosporin A is effective for the inhibition of graft rejecitions in various corneal transplantations.