[Examination of the cornea using optical coherence tomography]

Abstract

Introduction: This study evaluated the clinical use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for two-dimensional representation of the cornea.

Patients and methods: Noncontact slitlamp-adapted OCT was used in selected cases to evaluate pathologically altered corneas and to measure the central corneal thickness and curvature.

Results: OCT provided correlation between differences in reflection and morphological changes. Scar tissue resulted in hyper-reflective light scattering, whereas cystic lesions were hyporeflective. Precise biomorphometry also allowed representation of intrastromal and retrocorneal changes. Central corneal thickness measured by OCT yielded reproducible values and corneal curvature could be calculated from the optical signals of the corneal surface.

Conclusions: OCT provides high-resolution representation of the cornea and exact evaluation of its morphology, thickness, and curvature. Due to the noncontact, simple, and rapid examination using the slitlamp the corneal OCT method is a promising additional diagnostic modality.