Practice Patterns and Opinions in the Treatment of Acanthamoeba Keratitis

Abstract

Purpose: 

Management of acanthamoeba keratitis remains challenging for ophthalmologists. We conducted a survey of members of The Cornea Society to elicit expert opinions on the diagnosis and treatment of acanthamoeba keratitis.

Methods: 

An online survey was sent to all subscribers of The Cornea Society via the kera-net listserv. Descriptive statistics were performed.

Results: 

Eighty-two participants completed the online survey. Of the 82 respondents, 76.8% included the combination of clinical examination and culture in their diagnostic strategy and 43.9% used confocal microscopy. Most respondents (97.6%) had used combination therapy with multiple agents to treat acanthamoeba keratitis at some point in the past, whereas a smaller proportion (47.6%) had ever used monotherapy. Respondents most commonly chose polyhexamethylene biguanide as the ideal choice for monotherapy (51.4%), and dual therapy with a biguanide and diamidine as the ideal choice for combination therapy (37.5%). The majority of respondents (62.2%) reported using topical corticosteroids at least some of the time for acanthamoeba keratitis. Keratoplasty was an option considered by most respondents (75.6%), although most (85.5%) would only perform surgery after medical treatment failure.

Conclusions: 

There was a wide range of current practice patterns for the diagnosis and treatment of acanthamoeba keratitis. The lack of sufficiently powered comparative effectiveness studies and clinical trials makes evidence-based decision-making for this disease difficult.