Comparative study of corneal central thickness obtained with ultrasonic pachymetry and pentacam HR

Session Details

Session Title: Imaging

Session Date/Time: Tuesday 16/09/2014 | 08:00-10:30

Paper Time: 09:16

Venue: Capital Hall B

First Author: : M.Ramalho PORTUGAL

Co Author(s): :    F. Vaz   M. Mota   I. Coutinho   C. Pedrosa   P. Pego   I. Prieto

Abstract Details

Purpose:

This study was performed to compare Central Corneal Thickness (CCT) measurements obtained using the Pentacam HR and ultrasound pachymetry (UP).

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Prof. Dr. Fernando Fonseca, Portugal

Methods:

Three CCT measurements were taken with the Pentacam HR (Oculus, Inc.) and UP in that sequence from one eye of 47 consecutive patients with the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea. The 3 measurements taken with each instrument were averaged and treated as a single number. Paired t tests were carried out to assess whether there were any differences between the measurements taken with the 2 instruments.

Results:

The mean ± standard deviation of the corneal thickness was 553 ± 36 µm for UP and 583 ± 44 µm for Pentacam. The mean difference between measurements was 30 µm, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 13 to 46 µm and was statistically significant (p < 0,0001). There was a correlation coefficient of 0.66 between the CCT readings by the 2 methods.

Conclusions:

Our study showed that the CCT measurements obtained by Pentacam HR and UP were well correlated. However, there is a statistically significant difference between the readings with the 2 instruments, therefore, the measurements are not interchangeable. Measurements obtained with the Pentacam were systematically higher than those provided by the UP, which can have therapeutic decision implications, mainly in crosslinking and intrastromal rings.

Financial Interest:

NONE