Correlation Between Keratocytes Density and Intraocular Pressure

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: Different variables can interfer with intraocular pressare (IOP) measurement. Particularly, corneal thickness and rigidity can cause artifacts (i.e. overestimation or underestimation of IOP). The aim of this study was to investigate on the possible correlation between keratocyte density and IOP Methods: 45 subjects of both genders (M/F=15/30) were recruited (mean age 42 y.o. range 13–73). Each patient underwent a cornea examination by means of Confoscan 3. Keratocyte density was calculated in the following ways: 1) semiquantitative assessment, using a 3 point scale (i.e. low, medium and high density); 2) quantitative assessment, perfoming a manual count in a area of 1 mm squared calculating the average value at 3 different point (i.e. anterior, intermediate and posterior stroma). Spearman’s and Pearson’s tests were applied to evaluate the keratocytes density with IOP Results: Semiquentitative assessment: a statistically significant correlation was found any level of cornea stroma. Anterior stroma: R= –0.39 (P=0.008); intermediate stroma: R= –0.34 (P=0.022); Posterior stroma R = –0.36 (P=0.015). Quantitative assesment: a slight correlation was found with borderline significance (R= –0.29; P=0.053) Conclusions: The inverse correlation (negative R) suggested that higher number of keratocyte corrensponds to lower IOP. It might be due to a greater deformability of the corneal tissue having highly cellular density and consequently lesser extracellular matrix. Further study have to be pointed out to confirm these results.

Keywords: intraocular pressure • cornea: stroma and keratocytes