Changes in stray light and densitometry values after corneal cross-linking

Session Details

Session Title: Cross-Linking II

Session Date/Time: Tuesday 16/09/2014 | 16:30-18:00

Paper Time: 16:42

Venue: Boulevard A

First Author: : N.Pircher AUSTRIA

Co Author(s): :    M. Pachala   F. Prager   S. Pieh   G. Schmidinger     

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To investigate the change of backward and forward directed corneal stray light in eyes after corneal crosslinking and its correlation with visual acuity and changes in corneal topography.

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Vienna.

Methods:

Thirty-three eyes of 30 patients with progressive keratoconus underwent corneal cross-linking (CXL) according to the standard Dresden Protocol. Corneal light scattering was evaluated by means of densitometry measurements in different corneal layers and zones using the Pentacam HR (Oculus GmbH). Changes in corneal topography were measured with the same device. Retinal stray light values were measured using the C-Quant device (Oculus GmbH) at the same intervals.

Results:

Mean preoperative retinal stray light was 1.14 ± 0.29 log(s). Stray light peaked after one month, followed by a continuous decrease, but remained elevated after one year (1.26 ± 0.21 log(s); p<0.05). Mean densitometry of different corneal layers and in three different concentric zones peaked at 3 months and decreased thereafter. Mean densitometry of the anterior stroma and the zone of 0-2 mm remained significantly elevated (p<0.05) after 12 months. Treated eyes showed a flattening of the steepest keratometry value (Kmax) and an increase in CDVA.

Conclusions:

Crosslinking induced stromal changes resulted in an increase in densitometry, especially in the anterior 150 µm and the central zone of 0-2 mm. These changes correlated with an increase in retinal stray light, but not with the postoperative visual outcome. A more pronounced reduction of maximal K-readings seems to be associated with higher transparency loss in the central anterior corneal layers.

Financial Interest:

NONE