Survey report on keratoplasty in China: A 5-year review from 2014 to 2018

To provide the general information on corneal transplantation (CT) in China, China Cornea Society designed a questionnaire on CT from 2014 to 2018 and entrusted it to 31 committee members for implementation of the survey nationwide. This article presents the results of the survey and compares the indicators used in the survey and those in the annual statistical report released by the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA). The number of corneal transplantations completed by the 64 hospitals from 2014 to 2018 was respectively 5377, 6394, 7595, 8270 and 8980, totally 36,616 (22,959 male and 13,657 female). The five largest hospitals by the number of corneal transplantations completed 15,994 surgeries in total, accounting for 43.68% of all the surgeries performed in the 64 hospitals. The most common indication for corneal transplantations was corneal leukoma (7683, 20.98%), followed by bacterial keratitis (4209, 11.49%), corneal dystrophies (4189, 11.44%), keratoconus (3578, 9.77%) and corneal perforation (2839, 7.75%). The main surgical techniques were penetrating keratoplasty (PK) (19,896, 54.34%), anterior lamellar keratoplasty (ALK) (13,869, 37.88%). The proportion of PK decreased from 57.97% in 2014 to 52.88% in 2018 while the proportion of ALK increased from 36.04% in 2014 to 37.92% in 2018. The geographical distribution of keratoplasties performed in China is unbalanced. PK and ALK were the main techniques of CT and corneal leukoma, bacterial keratitis and corneal dystrophies were the main indications for CT in China.