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Investigation of anterior segment structures of the eye in Behçet’s disease using in vivo confocal microscopy

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Abstract

Purpose

We sought to investigate alterations in the corneal subbasal nerve plexus and endothelium in patients with Behçet’s disease (BD).

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 64 patients with BD and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects. Those with BD were classified as having ocular or non-ocular disease. All subjects underwent a corneal endothelial and subbasal nerve density evaluation using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM). The differences among groups were analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison procedure.

Results

The mean age of study participants was 35.7 ± 10.2 years (16–58) in the ocular BD group, 39.6 ± 14.9 years (11–66) in the non-ocular BD group, and 34.1 ± 11.2 years (21–55) in the control group. No statistical significance was found in terms of age (p = 0.259) or sex (p = 0.560) between groups. The mean endothelial cell density determined with IVCM was 2124.9 \(\pm\) 417.4 cells/mm2 (1811–3275) in the ocular group and 2546 \(\pm\) 335 cells/mm2 (1798–3280) in the control group (p = 0.000). In the ocular group, the mean density of the subbasal nerve plexus was significantly lower (p = 0.004), and nerve tortuosity was significantly higher (p = 0.002).

Conclusions

Ocular BD could be responsible for changes in the corneal layers, especially endothelial and corneal nerve structures. Nerve density and tortuosity differences could be inflammatory indicators for BD.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

    Ozlem Dikmetas, Orhan Aygün, Sibel Kocabeyoglu, Sibel Kadayıfçılar & Murat Irkec

  2. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University Vasculitis Centre (HUVAC), Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Ertugrul Çagri Bolek & Omer Karadag

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

    Jale Karakaya

Authors
  1. Ozlem Dikmetas
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Contributions

Ozlem Dikmetas, Murat İrkec, Omer Karadag: conceptualization, methodology, software. Ozlem Dikmetas, Murat Irkec, Sibel Kocabeyoglu, Ertugrul Cagrı Bolek, Sibel Kadayıfçılar, Jale Karakaya: data curation; writing—original draft preparation. Ozlem Dikmetas, Sibel Kocabeyoglu, Omer Karadag: visualization, ınvestigation. Murat Irkec, Sibel Kocabeyoglu, Omer Karadag: supervision. Murat Irkec, Omer Karadag: software, validation. Ozlem Dikmetas, Sibel Kocabeyoglu, Omer Karadag, Ertugrul Cagrı Bolek, Sibel Kadayıfçılar: writing, reviewing, and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ozlem Dikmetas.

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Hacettepe University Noninvasive Clinical Research Ethics Committee, GO 18/77.

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Dikmetas, O., Aygün, O., Bolek, E.Ç. et al. Investigation of anterior segment structures of the eye in Behçet’s disease using in vivo confocal microscopy. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 260, 3897–3902 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05846-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05846-9

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