Autologous Platelet-rich Plasma in the Treatment of Persistent Epithelial Defects

Summary

Persistent epithelial defects (PED) are corneal ulcers that do not heal within the first two weeks of treatment with artificial tears or ocular lubricant ointment. It is believed that this condition is the result of the loss of certain substances normally present in the tears that aid in the healing process of the cornea. When the eye is healthy, these ulcers typically heal rapidly. However, when there is an underlying disease such as diabetes, this healing process is altered and it takes longer for the ulcer to heal. Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a substance that is obtained from the patient's own blood and it is believed this substance may replace those missing factors in the tears of patients with PED. The purpose of this investigation is to find out whether PRP combined with a bandage contact lens is better than preservative free lubricant combined with bandage contact lens or than eye patch with ocular lubricant ointment for the treatment of PED. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the three groups and will get the treatment until the ulcer heals completely. We will count the days it takes for the PED to heal and based on that we will determine wich treatment is more effective (the treatment that takes the least days to heal will be considered the most effective). Since this disease is difficult to treat and doesn't have a gold standard treatment, usually the available treatments are not as good as we would like, therefore, the ulcer might progress even to perforation regardless of the treatment. In these cases, we will provide appropriate treatment for progressive corneal thinning and corneal perforation.

Timeline

Start

2018-08-30

Primary completion

2027-08

Completion

2027-08-01

Publications

• Background Tsubota K, Goto E, Shimmura S, Shimazaki J. Treatment of persistent corneal epithelial defect by autologous serum application. Ophthalmology. 1999 Oct;106(10):1984-9. doi: 10.1016/S0161-6420(99)90412-8.
• Background Chen J, Chen P, Backman LJ, Zhou Q, Danielson P. Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Promotes the Migration of Corneal Epithelial Stem/progenitor Cells by Up-regulation of MMPs through the Phosphorylation of Akt. Sci Rep. 2016 May 13;6:25870. doi: 10.1038/srep25870.
• Background Ljubimov AV, Saghizadeh M. Progress in corneal wound healing. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2015 Nov;49:17-45. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2015.07.002. Epub 2015 Jul 18.
• Background Nugent RB, Lee GA. Ophthalmic use of blood-derived products. Surv Ophthalmol. 2015 Sep-Oct;60(5):406-34. doi: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2015.03.003. Epub 2015 Apr 15.
• Background Alio JL, Rodriguez AE, WrobelDudzinska D. Eye platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of ocular surface disorders. Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2015 Jul;26(4):325-32. doi: 10.1097/ICU.0000000000000169.
• Background Alio JL, Abad M, Artola A, Rodriguez-Prats JL, Pastor S, Ruiz-Colecha J. Use of autologous platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of dormant corneal ulcers. Ophthalmology. 2007 Jul;114(7):1286-1293.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2006.10.044. Epub 2007 Feb 26.
• Background Kim KM, Shin YT, Kim HK. Effect of autologous platelet-rich plasma on persistent corneal epithelial defect after infectious keratitis. Jpn J Ophthalmol. 2012 Nov;56(6):544-50. doi: 10.1007/s10384-012-0175-y. Epub 2012 Sep 13.

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