Adjunctive corticosteroid therapy is safe for bacterial corneal ulcers

Using adjunctive corticosteroid therapy is safe on bacterial corneal ulcers and does not alter best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), claims a study in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Dr Muthiah Srinvasan and his team, Department of Corneal and External Diseases, Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai, India, conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked multicentered clinical trial on 1769 patients with bacterial corneal ulcers. All patients were screened between September 1, 2006 and February 22, 2010.

The primary outcome was BSCVA at 3 months from patient enrolment and the secondary outcomes were infiltrate/scar size, re-epithelialization and corneal perforation.

In the subgroups of baseline BSCVA and ulcer location there were a significant number of corticosteroids observed. There was no significant difference in the 3-month BSCVA infiltrate scar/size, time to re-epithelialization and corneal perforation.

Patients with vision of counting fingers or worse at baseline presented with 0.17 logMAR better visual acuity with corticosteroids. Patients that were at baseline had 0.20 logMAR better visual acuity with corticosteroids.