Purpose: To identify the indications for penetrating keratoplasty at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Santa Casa of São Paulo from January 1996 to December 2005 and to compare them with those from January 1991 to December 1995.
Methods: Charts of patients who had undergone penetrating keratoplasty from January 1996 to December 2006 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: There were 587 keratoplasties done in this period. The average age of patients was 49.6 +/- 21.1 years (range 1 to 91 years). The most common indications were infectious keratitis (17.9%), trauma (16%), pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (14.7%), keratoconus (13.1%), regrafts (12.8%) and herpetic keratitis (6.6%).
Conclusion: The leading indications for penetrating keratoplasty were infectious keratitis, trauma, bullous keratopathy, herpetic keratitis. There was a decreasing trend in penetrating keratoplasty for keratoconus and regraft during the last 10 years.