Prevalence of corneal endothelial pleomorphism, polymegethism, and guttata in a Hispanic population.

Abstract

Purpose : To analyze the morphometric characteristics of the central corneal endothelium in healthy Hispanic adults 40-years and older from an eye health-care system.

Methods : A cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was designed to assess central corneal specular microscopies of healthy adult Hispanic patients. Photographs of the central corneal endothelium were obtained using a Tomey EM-3000 non-contact specular microscope. We considered endothelial pleomorphism if <50% of cells were hexagonal, and polymegethism if the coefficient of variation was >40%.

Results : 702 eyes from 356 patients were included for study. The mean age was 69.76±10.72 years (range 42-93), with 195 female and 163 male patients included. The mean endothelial cell density (MCD) was 2255.09±488.07 cells/mm2; mean cell area was 458.85±166.62 µm2; and mean central corneal thickness was 522.37±39.97 µm. 75.64% of the patients had pleomorphic endothelium, with a significant difference in cell hexagonality between male and female patients (p = 0.002). Moreover, 48.43% of patients had polymegethism and 17.81% cornea guttata (CG); 64% of the CG patients were female.

Conclusions : MCD and cell hexagonality in this Hispanic population was lower than in other reports. A high rate of pleomorphism, polymegethism, and CG was observed. Considering the racial differences in the prevalence of CG established by other authors, our data reveal a high prevalence of this condition in this adult Hispanic population, with a higher preponderance of female patients. More information is needed regarding endothelial morphometric characteristics in Hispanics, as it represents a valuable tool to predict the stress response capability of this essential monolayer to insults. To our knowledge, this is the first study focusing on determining the prevalence of pleomorphism, polymegethism, and guttata in a Hispanic population.

This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.

 

Specular microscopies demonstrating healthy (left) and pleomorphic (middle) corneal endothelium. High-grade cornea guttata (right).