Purpose: To analyse the indications and visual outcome in patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) at Jordan University Hospital (JUH) between 1979 and 1998.

Method: Retrospective review of 172 files of patients who underwent (PKP) at JUH between 1979 and 1998 was performed.   The data included patient’s age, sex, indication for PKP, donor’s age, preservation time of the graft, donor's and recipient’s corneal size, type of suturing, preoperative vision, postoperative best visual acuity (as in sphere, cylinder and spherical equivalent) and the final status of the graft. After exclusion criteria, 154 eyes of 136 patients were statistically analysed.

Results:  Mean age of patients who underwent PKP was 26.3 years. 62.3% were males and 37.7% were females. Keratoconus was the main indication for PKP among our group of patients (65.6%).  The mean size of the donor's graft was 7.7mm, and 7.5mm for the recipient's grafts. Out of all patients, 57.1 % had interrupted sutures, 31.2% continuous with 16 bites single running, while 11.7% had mixed (interrupted and continuous). Postoperatively, 83.8% had a clear graft (at least 1 year). After removal of sutures, 34.6% had astigmatism of more than 5 dioptres [D].  A postoperative best corrected visual acuity of ≥ 0.5 (6/12) was achieved in 59.7% of the eyes studied.

Conclusion:  Keratoconus is a major indication for PKP at Jordan University Hospital. PKP significantly improved visual acuity in those patients. At least for a follow up period of  one year  after complete removal of sutures,  83.8% of our patients had clear graft. The final vision was not significantly related to the method of suturing, graft size, donor age or preservation time. 

Key words: Penetrating Keratoplasty, Keratoconus, and Visual outcome.