Abstract
Purpose :
To compare corneal epithelial thickness (CET) and limbal epithelial thickness (LET) measured by anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and in vivo confocal microscope (IVCM) in normal subjects, and evaluate the consistency between these two techniques.
Methods :
38 normal subjects (17 men and 21 women) were enrolled in this study. AS-OCT was performed at central cornea and the superior, inferior, nasal and temporal limbus. Then followed by IVCM examination performed at the same location. SPSS 13.0 software was used to compare CET and LET measured by two techniques and analyze the correlation between them.
Results :
The average CET measured by AS-OCT and IVCM was 55.9±4.0μm and 51.7±4.9μm respectively. The value measured by IVCM was significantly lower than that measured by AS-OCT (P=0.015). The average LET values tested by IVCM at superior, inferior, nasal and temporal quadrant were 73.1±14.7μm, 71.7±15.5μm, 55.5±8.8μm and 55.9±11.4μm, which were similar as those measured by AS-OCT at superior and inferior quadrant and 10.3% and 10.9% thinner at nasal and temporal quadrant (nasal: P=0.019, temporal: P=0.003). In subjects older than 40 years, CET and LET values measured by AS-OCT were significantly higher than those by IVCM. Such differences were not found in subjects≤40 years old.
Conclusions :
CET values measured by IVCM are lower than those by AS-OCT, while LET values have good consistency between them. These two techniques have their own advantages in measuring epithelial thickness and are mutually complementary.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.