Posters

Effects of corneal sub-basal nerve fiber length on the response to treatment in dry eye syndrome

Poster Details

First Author: M.Shoja IRAN

Co Author(s):    S. Salimpoor                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To estimate whether levels of corneal subbasal nerve fiber length (SNFL) in dry eye Syndrome (DES) could predict the level of improvement in signs and symptoms after treatment.

Setting:

This prospective randomized, single-masked, clinical trial was conducted with 60 patients with DES who were randomized into 3 treatment groups (preservative free artificial tear, Loteprednole and Cyclosporine 0.05%) for 6 weeks.

Methods:

At baseline, in vivo confocal microscopy of central cornea was performed in both eyes. Patients with DES were divided into 2 subgroups, those with low baseline SNFL and those with near-normal baseline SNFL (the cut-off point: the median of SNFL ). Clinical signs and symptoms at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment were compared between the subgroups with low and near-normal SNFL for all therapeutic groups Main Outcome Measures OSDI questionnaires, corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), tear break-up time, Schirmer’s test, and SNFL.

Results:

In the artificial tear and cyclosporine groups, although no significant improvement in any sign or symptom was noted in patients with low baseline SNFL, subjects with near-normal baseline SNFL showed significant improvement in both symptoms and corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) score (all P<0.05). In the loteprednol group, no significant change was apparent for any sign or symptom in either subgroup of low or near-normal baseline SNFL.

Conclusions:

Significant improvements in CFS and patient symptoms after DES treatment were apparent in the subgroup with near-normal corneal SNFL. Consideration of SNFL may thus assist in explaining the unpredictability of patients’ response to DES treatment.

Financial Disclosure:

None