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Corneal tomography and biomechanics in primary pterygium

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Abstract

Purpose

To study the Scheimpflug’s imaging and corneal biomechanics in primary pterygium.

Methods

A prospective observational study of 55 patients with unilateral primary nasal pterygium was done. The normal fellow eyes of patients with pterygium were taken as controls. Clinical parameters noted included visual acuity, values of corneal curvature by doing Scheimpflug imaging, wavefront aberrations in terms of higher and lower-order aberrations and corneal hysteresis (CH) as well as corneal resistance factor (CRF) values by using ocular response analyzer.

Results

Of the total 55 patients, mean age was 43.0 + 11.4 years (range: 20–72 years). Mean LogMar uncorrected visual acuity in pterygium eyes and control eyes was 0.21 + 0.20 and 0.12 + 0.15, respectively (p = 0.016). On Scheimpflug imaging the mean anterior corneal curvature values (Ka1/Ka2 D) were 41.09 + 3.38/44.33 + 2.29 in pterygium eyes, 43.13 + 1.79/43.98 + 2.17 in control eyes (p < 0.0005) and mean posterior corneal curvature (Kp1/Kp2 D) values were 6.14 + 0.39/6.53 + 0.43 in pterygium eyes and 6.13 + 0.28/6.46 + 0.47 in control eyes (p > 0.05). Analysis of corneal aberrations showed significantly higher corneal wavefront aberrations in pterygium eyes. Highest correlation of corneal astigmatism was noted with corneal area encroached by pterygium (ρ = 0.540 for LOA and 0.553 for HOA) and distance from pupillary center (ρ = 0.531 for LOA and 0.564 for HOA). Corneal biomechanical parameters including CH and CRF were found to be lower in the pterygium eyes, though not statistically significant (p value 0.60 and 0.59, respectively).

Conclusion

Pterygium leads to deterioration of visual performance not only by causing refractive and topographic changes but also by causing a significant increase in corneal wavefront aberrations.

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Correspondence to M. Vanathi.

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There are no conflict of interests and financial disclosures to be made.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Institute Ethical Committee of AIIMS.

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Vanathi, M., Goel, S., Ganger, A. et al. Corneal tomography and biomechanics in primary pterygium. Int Ophthalmol 38, 663–671 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-017-0514-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-017-0514-6

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