Abstract
Purpose:
To quantify corneal subbasal nerve density and total number of nerve fibers in primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) and evaluate their impact on corneal sensitivity.
Methods:
Forty eyes of 26 PCG patients were compared with 40 eyes randomly selected from 40 non-glaucoma patients who populated the control group. Central corneal sensitivity (CCS) was assessed by means of Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometry. Mean subbasal nerve density and total number of nerve fibers were quantified by laser-scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Normality of data was assessed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov testing. Differences in parameters were assessed with Student’s t test while correlations with CSS with Pearson’s correlation.
Results:
Significant differences were identified in the mean subbasal nerve density (2108±692μm in PCG, 2642±484μm in controls, p= 0.003) and total number of nerve fibers (12.3±4.2 in PCG, 15.4±3.1 in controls, p= 0.02). Both groups presented comparable mean CCS and tortuosity. Both groups presented strong correlations between CCS and mean nerve density (r= 0.57 in PCG, r= 0.67 in controls, all p<0.05), and between CCS and total number of nerve fibers (r= 0.55 in PCG, r= 0.56 in controls, all p<0.05).
Conclusions:
PCG exerts significant changes both in the mean subbasal nerve density and the total number of nerve fibers. However, these changes do not appear to affect central corneal sensitivity.
Keywords: 596 microscopy: confocal/tunneling