Femtosecond-assisted intrastromal corneal ring implantation for keratoconus treatment: a comparison with crosslinking combination.

Purpose: To compare visual outcomes, corneal astigmatism, and keratometric readings in patients with keratoconus who underwent intrastromal corneal ring implantation (ICRSI) alone with those who underwent ICRSI combined with ultraviolet A riboflavin-mediated corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL).

Methods: Pre- and post-operative best-corrected distance visual acuity (BCDVA), spherical error, cylindrical error, and mean keratometry were retrospectively compared over a period of 2 years in patients with keratoconus who underwent only ICRSI (group 1) versus those in patients who underwent combined ICRSI-CXL (group 2).

Results: Thirty-two eyes of 31 patients were evaluated.

Intima-media thickness in the origin of right subclavian artery as an early marker of cardiovascular risk.

Objective: Common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) is considered a factor of cardiovascular risk and an early marker of coronary artery disease. This study aimed to investigate the existence of a correlation between IMT in the carotid arteries and at the origin of the right subclavian artery, as well as to evaluate IMT in the subclavian artery as an earlier marker of cardiovascular risk.

Methods: One hundred and six consecutive patients, 52 males and 54 females, average age 51 years, underwent color Doppler ultrasonography to evaluate carotid and right subclavian arteries.