Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017:2017:8747013.
doi: 10.1155/2017/8747013. Epub 2017 Jul 2.

Corneal Backscatters as an Objective Index for Assessing Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy: A Pilot Study

Hsueh-Yen Chu  1   2 , Ching-Hsi Hsiao  1   2 , Phil Yeong-Fong Chen  1   2 , David Hui-Kang Ma  1   2 , Chee-Jen Chang  3   4 , Hsin-Yuan Tan  1   2
Affiliations

Corneal Backscatters as an Objective Index for Assessing Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy: A Pilot Study

Hsueh-Yen Chu et al. J Ophthalmol. 2017.

Abstract

Purpose: To provide an objective, quantitative approach for monitoring Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), with Scheimpflug imaging.

Design: This is a retrospective case-control pilot study.

Methods: The study group consisted of 53 eyes in 27 patients diagnosed with FECD, with normal subjects paired as control. Main outcome measures were corneal thickness, morphological patterns on densitograms, and indices of corneal density including the average area density (mean AD) and the average ratio of Descemet's membrane density versus area density (DM/AD) in Pentacam Scheimpflug images.

Results: There were no significant differences in age and corneal thickness between FECD and normal groups. Morphologically, hanging-hammock patterns were noted on the densitograms of FECD patients, which were different from the high-back chair patterns in normal subjects. Quantitatively, mean AD and DM/AD were both elevated in FECD patients as compared with normal subjects (P = 0.01 and 0.025, resp.). In addition, FECD patients with corneal edema had significantly higher mean AD (P = 0.018) than those without corneal edema.

Conclusions: This pilot study shows that Pentacam system provides an objective, quantitative way to approach FECD corneas. It can assist ophthalmologists in detecting the early change and in monitoring disease progression of FECD. Further studies are needed to consolidate the findings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Densitometry of Pentacam Scheimpflug images. (a) One spiking hump with central flattening and a smoothing second hump appear as a high-back chair in normal subjects. (b) Two spiking humps look like a hanging hammock in FECD patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Basic settings of six selected segments in Pentacam.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatterplots of mean area density (mean AD) against corneal thickness (CCT) (a) and average ratio of DM density versus area density (DM/AD) (b) in FECD without edema, FECD with edema, and normal eyes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Knapp A. Dystrophia epithelialis corneae (Fuchs), with the report of a case. Transactions of American Ophthalmological Society. 1911;12(3):745–747. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gottsch J. D., Sundin O. H., Liu S. H., et al. Inheritance of a novel COL8A2 mutation defines a distinct early-onset subtype of Fuchs corneal dystrophy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2005;46(6):1934–1939. doi: 10.1167/iovs.04-0937. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gottsch J. D., Bowers A. L., Margulies E. H., et al. Serial analysis of gene expression in the corneal endothelium of Fuchs’ dystrophy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2003;44(2):594–599. doi: 10.1167/iovs.02-0300. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhang C., Bell W. R., Sundin O. H., et al. Immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy of early-onset Fuchs corneal dystrophy in three cases with the same L450W COL8A2 mutation. Transactions of American Ophthalmological Society. 2006;104:85–97. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lee W. B., Jacobs D. S., Musch D. C., Kaufman S. C., Reinhart W. J., Shtein R. M. Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty: safety and outcomes: a report by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Ophthalmology. 2009;116(9):1818–1830. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2009.06.021. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources