Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty for an intrastromal epithelial corneal cyst: a case report

Surgical Treatment of a Corneal Epithelial Cyst

PURPOSE

To describe a case of intracorneal epithelial cyst and present a surgical technique successfully used to treat this patient.

METHODS

This interventional case report presents a 4-year-old boy with a progressive intrastromal corneal opacity and decreased vision in his right eye. The patient had no previous history of trauma or ocular surgery. After clinical examination and corneal optical coherence tomography, a presumptive diagnosis of a developmental epithelial cyst was made, and surgery was indicated. Four years later, when the patient was 8 year old, he returned after having performed drainage of the cyst in another service but still complaining of low vision. The biomicroscopy showed an intrastromal recurrent cyst. At this time, we recommended the surgical retreatment. The cyst was drained, a lamellar keratosclerectomy was performed at the site of the limbus where the epithelial nest was placed, and distilled water was used to wash the corneal cyst - to eliminate the epithelial cells. A donor cornea button was cut manually and was transplanted to cover the area where the corneoscleral tissue was removed.

RESULTS

The surgical technique described resulted in nearly complete clearing of the opacity and improved vision, and no recurrence was documented up to 19 months of follow-up. The best-corrected visual acuity improved from 20/100 before surgery to 20/30 after surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

This surgical technique may be a good alternative to other previously described treatments for intracorneal epithelial cysts aiming to avoid recurrence and without the need for central corneal transplantation.

Trans-stromal epithelial cyst after multiple lamellar keratoplasties - Case report and review of literature

Design

Single Observational Case Report.

Setting

A 67-year-old male of Persian descent had a complex systemic and ocular history prior to a right penetrating keratoplasty (PK) reported here. The clinical diagnoses leading to the PK included Cogan's syndrome, chronic uveitis, secondary glaucoma, and corneal stromal scarring, presumed secondary to a corneal ulcer diagnosed on the second visit to our clinic. The specimen described here had been in place for 11 months and 17 days after the third failed Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK). Visual acuities had ranged from 20/100 to 20/400 in both eyes. Visual acuity in the right eye just before surgery was 20/400. Intraocular pressures were 22 mmHg in both eyes with functioning Ahmed glaucoma shunts. The stromal cyst was not suspected preoperatively and no clinical imaging was performed.

Study Methods

Histopathology including serial sections and immunohistochemistry.

Results

Histologic study demonstrated a trans-stromal corneal epithelial cyst without goblet cells that extended through a 500 μm gap in the donor tissue surface and edge.

Conclusions

This large stromal cyst was an unusual complication of serial posterior lamellar keratoplasties and we postulate that multiple prior posterior lamellar grafts may have been a risk factor for this complication. Anterior segment imaging with either anterior segment optical coherence tomography or high-resolution ultrasound would likely have detected this stromal cyst.