Abstract
Purpose: :
To describe the use of Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) in the evaluation of patients with pterygium.
Methods: :
Seven eyes of seven patients (4 men, 3 women; mean age, 59.9±7.0 years) with a pterygium from July 2009 to October 2009 were enrolled. The pterygia and corneas were observed using FD-OCT (RTvue100TM, Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA) preoperatively and postoperatively. We observed three points of intersection, i.e., at the top of the pterygial head and two points at the pterygial base to confirm invasion under Bowman’s layer, and we measured the edge thickness and the maximum thickness of the pterygium.
Results: :
FD-OCT clearly distinguished the boundary of the corneal epithelium, Bowman’s layer, and the corneal stroma. FD-OCT also allowed visualization of the pterygial invasion under Bowman’s layer. In four of seven eyes (57.1%), the pterygia were observed under Bowman layer. In these four cases, we excised the pterygia smoothly without postoperative corneal turbidity. In three cases in which the pterygia invaded the corneal stroma, the corneas were turbid postoperatively. The edge and the maximum thickness of the pterygia were a mean of 227.9±68.7 µm and 472.1±100 µm, respectively.
Conclusions: :
FD-OCT allows observation of the pterygium invasion and prediction of a clear cornea postoperatively.
Keywords: pterygium • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • imaging/image analysis: clinical