Original articleCorneal thickness measurements with contact and noncontact specular microscopic and ultrasonic pachymetry☆
Section snippets
Methods
Central corneal thickness was determined in 119 eyes of 81 patients (73 normal eyes of 44 patients, mean age 66 ± 18 years and 46 penetrating corneal grafts of 37 patients, mean age 52 ± 18 years) as a part of routine clinical examination at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. In the following sequence noncontact specular microscopic (Topcon SP-2000P; Topcon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), ultrasonic (AL-1000; Tomey, Erlangen, Germany), and contact
Results
Reliability of central corneal thickness measurements was comparable in normal and in postkeratoplasty corneas with all of the tested instruments (alpha = 0.99).
Noncontact specular microscopic corneal thickness determination correlated significantly both with ultrasonic (r = .86, P < .0001; Figure 1) and contact specular microscopic pachymetry (r = .62, P < .0001; Figure 2). Likewise, the ultrasonic pachymetry correlated well with the Tomey pachymetry (r = .69, P < .0001; Figure 3).
The mean
Discussion
Earlier studies proved that slit-lamp mounted optical thickness determination compared with specular microscopic and ultrasonic pachymetry disclosed higher interobserver variations, less reproducibility, and provided subjective measurements in healthy subjects.16, 17, 18
Recently, a wide range of new and sophisticated instruments has been developed for the determination of corneal thickness, such as the different optical laser interferometers,19, 20, 21 confocal microscope,22, 23 ultrasonic
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This study was supported by the Hungarian Eötvös Fellowship, Ministry of Education, Budapest, Hungary, and the Gertrude Küsen-Stiftung, Hamburg, Germany.