Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the length of the trabecular meshwork (TM) from the scleral spur (SS) to Schwalbe’s line (SL) and assess the detectability of the SS in pathology slides.
Methods: :
This study included 158 angle images from 79 cross-sectional slides derived from eyes enucleated for melanoma. The slides were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) or periodic acid schiff (PAS). Two ophthalmologists (TK and YC) evaluated the TM length by using the slides stained with HE to assess the interobserver reproducibility. For intraobserver reproducibility, one ophthalmologist (TK) assessed 79 images in a different session. Also, 30 images with PAS stain were evaluated to assess the agreement of the measurements between HE and PAS staining. Interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to evaluate reproducibility of measurements. The images were also evaluated for detectability of the scleral spurs. The agreement of the slides for difficulty in identification of the scleral spur by two ophthalmologists (TK and YC) was evaluated by Kappa statistics.
Results: :
Among the 79 included subjects, 40 were male and 39 were female. The mean age of included subjects was 61.8±14.3 years among the male group and 61.8±12.8 years in the female group. The average trabecular meshwork length was 694.9±109.0 μm in the male group and 713.2±106.9 μm in the female group (P=0.29). Intraobserver and interobserver ICC were 0.89 and 0.62, respectively. ICC for agreement between HE and PAS was 0.89. Among the 158 angles graded, one observer (TK) graded 40 images (25.3%) and the other (YC) graded 45 (28.5%) as difficult to identify the scleral spur. Kappa statistics for the two observer’s agreement was 0.37.
Conclusions: :
In this retrospective study, we have shown the average trabecular meshwork length in males was 694.9 ± 109.0 μm and in females was 713.2 ± 106.9 μm. Among the histology specimens 25.3%-28.5% were graded as difficult to identify the scleal spur.
Keywords: trabecular meshwork • anatomy • anterior chamber