Efficacy comparison between conventional therapy of herpetic keratitis and the therapy combined with 0.04 mg/ml Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops

Aim: to compare efficacy between therapeutic approaches to herpetic epithelial keratitis (HK): acyclovir eye ointment or combined treatment (acyclovir eye ointment + Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops). Materials and Methods: the study included 40 patients (25 men and 15 women) aged 18 to 65 years who were divided into 2 groups. A Group 1 (n=20, 20 eyes) was treated with acyclovir eye ointment, and a Group 2 (n=20, 20 eyes) received acyclovir eye ointment + Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops. The treatment was carried out in hospital conditions. Corneal epithelialization was assessed by an AI-based software. In addition, severity of ocular hyperemia, presence of corneal syndrome (photophobia, lacrimation, blepharospasm), and visual acuity were evaluated. Results: the epithelialization start was similar in the groups (p=0.097). However, complete epithelialization of the eroded corneal defect was significantly faster in the group received combined treatment (p=0.044) (11.05±4.07 days vs. 8.25±4.41 days in the Groups 1 and 2, respectively). Moreover, significant inter-group differences were reported between infiltration resorption, ocular hyperemia relief, and corneal syndrome recovery (p=0.016, p=0.025, p=0.007, respectively). As for the disease outcome, the Group 2 demonstrated higher visual acuity than the Group 1 (0.7 and 0.5, respectively, p=0.038). Conclusion: combined HK therapy (acyclovir eye ointment + Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops) is more efficient than acyclovir eye ointment alone.KEYWORDS: herpetic keratitis, 0.04% Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops, acyclovir, epithelialization time, artificial intelligence. FOR CITATION: Yani E.V., Stupakova M.M. Efficacy comparison between conventional therapy of herpetic keratitis and the therapy combined with 0.04 mg/ml Solanum tuberosum shoots quantum polysaccharides eye drops. Russian Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology. 2025;25(2):131– 136 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2311-7729-2025-25-2-8