McGhee, CPatel, DZhang, JZiaei, Mohammed2019-08-012018http://hdl.handle.net/2292/47444Corneal disease leads to a significant burden of blindness worldwide and corneal transplantation remains the primary method of visual rehabilitation in this context. Corneal transplantation is the most commonly performed transplantation procedure in New Zealand with approximately 300 cases completed annually. The aim of this research thesis was to provide an overview of conventional corneal transplantation with its associated limitations and provide a review of emerging options which aim to replace corneal transplantation (wound healing modulation & stem cell therapy) and procedures which aim to delay or eliminate the need for a corneal transplant (cornea crosslinking or CXL). Specifically, data analyses were performed to measure the efficacy of various cornea crosslinking protocols in patients with keratoconus and to assess the properties of the corneal epithelium on the tomographic, refractive and wavefront properties of the keratoconic cornea. A literature review of transplantation rejection pharmacotherapy, umbilical stem cell treatment, wound healing modulation and CXL was performed in the context of corneal disease. One hundred and eighty patients with progressive keratoconus undergoing various corneal crosslinking procedures at the University of Auckland were recruited... The results of the inter-related investigations that form this thesis provide new insights into corneal wound healing modulation & stem cell therapy, provide data on the safety and efficacy of novel CXL protocols and provide further evidence on corneal epithelial remodelling and its role on regularising the anterior corneal surface in keratoconus.Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htmhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/ThesisCopyright: The authorhttp://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccessQ112200950