SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE Therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty in severe fungal keratitis using cryopreserved donor corneas

Aims: To investigate whether cryopreserved donor cornea could be used for therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) to eradicate the infection, obviate complications, and preserve anatomical integrity in severe fungal keratitis. Methods: In this retrospective, consecutive case series, 45 eyes of 45 patients with severe fungal keratitis, which exhibited anterior chamber collapse, corneal perforation, and/or large suppurative corneal infiltrate, received thera-peutic PKP after removal of the infected corneal tissue, irri-gation of the anterior chamber by 0.2 % fluconazole solution, iris dissection of fibrinoid membrane, and iridec-tomy and therapeutic PKP using corneas cryopreserved at −20°C. Results: Among 45 eyes, 39 eyes (86.7%) were success