SynthesisEye (London, England)2025
Efficacy of Topical Tacrolimus (FK506) in High-risk Penetrating Keratoplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Comparative Studies.
Synthesis in Eye (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Topical 0.02% tacrolimus as adjunctive immunoprophylaxis in high-risk penetrating keratoplasty: a four-year retrospective study.International ophthalmology · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Corneal transplant rejection poses a significant challenge for patients undergoing high-risk penetrating keratoplasty (HR-PKP). We systematically reviewed the literature to evaluate the efficacy of combining topical tacrolimus with steroids in reducing graft failure rates. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science and CENTRAL/Cochrane databases were searched from inception to September 2024. Meta-analyses were conducted using weighted means, proportions and log odds ratios (OR) with a random-effects model. A two-tailed p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Out of 653 articles identified initially, five homogeneous comparative studies (n = 274 HR-PKP patients) were included. The tacrolimus-plus-steroids (n = 138) and steroids-alone (n = 136) groups were well-matched in baseline characteristics: weighted mean age (54.0 vs. 52.6 years, p = 0.90), sex distribution (p = 0.68), and underlying diagnoses with keratoconus being the most common (29.7% vs. 25.6%, p = 0.68). Follow-up durations were comparable as well (20.1 vs. 20.2 months, p = 0.98). After undergoing HR-PKP, patients in the tacrolimus-plus-steroids group showed significantly reduced graft failure odds by 75.0% (OR: 0.25 [95% CI: 0.13-0.43]) compared to patients in the steroids-alone group (p = 0.01). While preserving graft viability in HR-PKP patients remains challenging, adjunctive topical tacrolimus combined with steroids demonstrates a clinically meaningful reduction in graft failure risk. Larger long-term studies are warranted to validate these findings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.