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Observational Study
. 2017 Jan 10;17(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/s12886-016-0396-9.

Corneal hysteresis in patients with glaucoma-like optic discs, ocular hypertension and glaucoma

Melissa L Murphy  1 , Olya Pokrovskaya  2 , Marie Galligan  2 , Colm O'Brien  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Corneal hysteresis in patients with glaucoma-like optic discs, ocular hypertension and glaucoma

Melissa L Murphy et al. BMC Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Background: To compare corneal hysteresis (CH) measurements between patients with glaucoma, ocular hypertension (OHT) and glaucoma-like optic discs (GLD)- defined as a cup to disc ratio greater than or equal to 0.6 with normal intraocular pressure (IOP) and visual fields. The secondary aim was to investigate whether corneal resistance factor (CRF) and central corneal thickness (CCT) differ between patient groups.

Methods: In this cross sectional study a total of 123 patients (one eye each) were recruited from a glaucoma outpatient department to undergo ocular response analyser (ORA) testing and ultrasound pachymetry as well as clinical examination. A One-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to evaluate the mean difference in CH between the three diagnostic groups (glaucoma, OHT and GLD) correcting for potential confounding factors, IOP and age. Analysis was repeated for CRF and CCT.

Results: There was a significant difference in mean CH across the three diagnosis groups; F(2, 115) = 96.95; p < 0.001. Mean CH significantly higher for GLD compared to glaucoma (mean difference 1.83, p < 0.001), and significantly higher for OHT compared to glaucoma (mean difference 2.35, p < 0.001). Mean CH was slightly lower in patients with GLD than those with OHT but this difference was not statistically significant. A similar pattern was seen when the analysis was repeated for CRF and CCT.

Conclusions: Higher CH in GLD and OHT compared to glaucoma suggests increased viscoelasticity of ocular tissues may have a protective role against glaucoma.

Keywords: Central corneal thickness; Corneal hysteresis; Corneal resistance factor; Glaucoma-like optic discs; Ocular response analyser.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Differences in CH, CRF and CCT between patient subgroups. Box and whiskers plots illustrating the difference in mean and interquartile range of corneal hysteresis (CH) (Top), corneal resistance factor (CRF) (Middle), and central corneal thickness (CCT) (Bottom) between the three diagnosis subgroups (glaucoma-like discs [GLD], glaucoma, ocular hypertension [OHT]). CH and CRF is higher in both OHT and GLD compared to glaucoma. A similar pattern was demonstrated in CCT across patient subgroups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlations between CH and age and also between CH and CCT. The relationships between corneal hysteresis (CH) and age (Top), and CH and central corneal thickness (CCT) (Bottom). There is a weak negative correlation between CH and age (r = −0.22, p = 0.01) and a strong positive correlation between CH and CCT (r = 0.40, p = <0.001)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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