Abstract
Purpose::
The Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert) provides a measurement of corneal hysteresis (CH). We compared the CH and corneal pachymetry (CCT) values of healthy subjects, patients with ocular hypertension without glaucoma (OHT), and glaucomatous patients.
Methods::
We measured the CH and CCT in three groups of subjects: healthy non glaucomatous patients (normal group) ,OHT patients, and glaucomatous patients. We used a Student test to search for significant differences between the different groups (p<0.05).
Results::
We analyzed 192 eyes of 96 patients in the normal group, 43 eyes of 22 patients in the OHT group, and 119 eyes of 61 patients in the glaucoma group. Mean CCT values were respectively: 557.6 ± 34.6, 548.8 ± 47.0, and 540.0 ± 42.5 µm. Mean CH values were respectively: 10.98 ± 1.3, 9.70 ± 1.6, and 8.99 ± 1.9 mm Hg. We found significant differences for pachymetry between the normal and the glaucoma group, (p=8.9 x 10-5). However, the difference was not statistically significant between the OHT and the glaucoma group (p=0.2574) and between the normal and the OHT group (p=0.15). For CH, the differences were statistically significant between all the groups: normal and glaucoma (p=2.3 x 10-24), normal and OHT (p=4.9 x 10-8), and between the OHT and glaucoma groups (p=0.0265).
Conclusions::
In our investigation, CH was significantly lower in glaucomatous than in OHT eyes, and in OHT eyes, than in normal eyes. CCT was also significantly lower in glaucoma eyes, than in normal eyes. However, for pachymetry, the difference between OHT and glaucomatous eyes, and between normal and OHT eyes was not significant.
Keywords: intraocular pressure • cornea: clinical science