EW SHOW DAILY
70
Monday, May 8, 2017
Meeting Reporter
by Rich Daly EyeWorld Contributing Writer
Keratoconus is thought to affect
1 in 2,000 people, but Dr. Lindstrom
thinks the incidence is much higher,
given that 10–15% of refractive
patients are rejected for reasons
that include poor topographies or
too-thin corneas. In the U.S., 6,900
transplants are performed annually
for keratoconus.
In the many other countries
where crosslinking has been avail-
I
n the year since the first corneal
collagen corneal crosslinking
treatment received U.S. regula-
tory approval, a growing num-
ber of surgeons have launched
extensive outreach to other provid-
ers, patients, and payers.
Following the 2016 approval by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administra-
tion as a treatment for progressive
keratoconus and for corneal ectasia
following refractive surgery, the
KXL System (Avedro, Waltham,
Massachusetts) was commercialized
in September. Since then, Richard
Lindstrom, MD, Minneapolis, has
spent a lot of time training the local
optometric community to refer kera-
toconus patients early in the disease.
Optometrists generally manage
keratoconus patients with contact
lenses, but that won't stop progres-
sion of the disease.
"We all have an educational
process to do," Dr. Lindstrom said.
"I like to get this disease treated
while patients can still see OK with
glasses."
What has the crosslinking experience
been since U.S. approval?
Speakers at an Avedro event discuss their crosslinking experience since its U.S. approval last year.
Film and Poster Pavilion
able, transplant rates have been re-
duced by half. Dr. Lindstrom hopes
to get to the point where there are
no more transplants for keratoco-
nus.
Currently, such patients are
diagnosed based on topography but
Dr. Lindstrom is hoping for a better
tool. Dr. Lindstrom also emphasized
the importance of monitoring kera-
toconus patients to look for progres-
sion because the only FDA-approved
treatment is labeled just for them.
The prospective randomized
clinical trials for the KXL System
found it provided about a 2 D
overall visual improvement in 205
progressive keratoconus patients,
compared to untreated eyes that
continued to progress.
"The data is quite impressive,"
Dr. Lindstrom said.
