Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Choroidal thickness in keratoconus

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Keratoconus is an ectatic eye disease characterized by progressive thinning and steepening of the cornea which leads to irregular astigmatism and visual function loss. Determination of choroidal thickness in keratoconus patients may help us to better understand and manage the keratoconus disease. Choroidal thickness may be a potential marker for disease activity in keratoconus patients. In this study, we aimed to determine choroidal thickness in keratoconus patients and compare the results with the age-matched control group.

Methods

This is a prospective study with a control group. Keratometry and thinnest corneal thickness was measured and recorded in keratoconus patients. Choroidal thickness of all subjects was measured using an optical coherence tomography device (Spectralis OCT, version 6.0, Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) with an enhanced depth imaging mode without pupil dilation. Mean choroidal thickness of keratoconus patients was compared with healthy subjects.

Results

One hundred and sixty eyes of 80 healthy subjects and 160 eyes of 80 keratoconus patients were included in the study. Mean thinnest corneal thickness of the keratoconus patients was 449.7 ± 3.2 microns. Mean corneal keratometry value and cylindrical refraction error in the keratoconus patients were 53.2 ± 0.2 and 3.3 ± 0.1 diopters, respectively. Mean choroidal thickness was 363.9 ± 59.8 and 328.4 ± 67.2 microns in keratoconus patients and healthy subjects, respectively. There was a very significant difference between keratoconus patients and healthy subjects in terms of choroidal thickness (P = 0.000). There was not a statistically significant correlation between choroidal thickness and thinnest corneal thickness in keratoconus patients (P = 0.814).

Conclusion

Choroidal thickness was found to be increased in keratoconus patients. Choroidal thickness could potentially become a new clinical marker for disease activity in keratoconus patients

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Espandar L, Meyer J (2010) Keratoconus: overview and update on treatment. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol 17:15–20

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Edwards M, McGhee CN, Dean S (2001) The genetics of keratoconus. Clin Exp Ophthalmol 29:345–351

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Smith VA, Hoh HB, Littleton M, Easty DL (1995) Over-expression of a gelatinase A activity in keratoconus. Eye (Lond) 9:429–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Smith VA, Easty DL (2000) Matrix metalloproteinase 2: involvement in keratoconus. Eur J Ophthalmol 10:215–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Parkin BT, Smith VA, Easty DL (2000) The control of matrix metalloproteinase-2 expression in normal and keratoconic corneal keratocyte cultures. Eur J Ophthalmol 10:276–285

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Rabinowitz YS (2003) The genetics of keratoconus. Ophthalmol Clin North Am 16:607–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eandi CM, Del Priore LV, Bertelli E, Ober MD, Yanuzzi LA (2008) Central serous chorioretinopathy in patients with keratoconus. Retina 28:94–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Spaide RF, Koizumi H, Pozonni MC (2008) Enhanced depth imaging spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Am J Ophthalmol 146:496–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Haimovici R, Koh S, Gagnon DR, Lehrfeld T, Wellik S, Central Serous Chorioretinopathy case-control study group (2004) Risk factors for central serous chorioretinopathy: a case-control study. Ophthalmology 111:244–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yılmaz I, Yılmaz BS, Guleryuz NB, Perente I, Ozkaya A, Taskapılı M (2018) Assessment of the macula and choroid in pediatric keratoconus patients. Saudi J Ophthalmol 32:126–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Akkaya S (2018) Macular and peripapillary choroidal thickness in patients with keratoconus. Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 49:664–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gutierrez-Bonet R, Ruiz-Medrano J, Pena-Garcia P, Catanese M, Sadeghi Y, Hashemi K, Gabison E, Ruiz-Moreno J (2018) Macular choroidal thickening in keratoconus patients: swept source optical coherence tomography study. Transl Vis Sci Technol 7:15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Budenz DL, Anderson DR, Varma R, Schuman J, Cantor L, Savell J (2007) Determinants of normal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measured by Stratus OCT. Ophthalmology 114:1046–1052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hwang YH, Yoo C, Kim YY (2012) Myopic optic disc tilt and the characteristics of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography. J Glaucoma 21:260–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kang SH, Hong SW, Im SK, Lee SH, Ahn MD (2010) Effect of myopia on the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer measured by Cirrus HD optical coherence tomography. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 51:4075–4083

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Savini G, Barboni P, Parisi V, Carbonelli M (2012) The influence of axial length on retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and optic disc size measurements by spectral domain OCT. Br J Ophthalmol 96:57–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cheung CY, Leung CK, Lin D, Pang CP, Lam DS (2008) Relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer measurement and signal strength in optical coherence tomography. Ophthalmology 115:1347–1351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Vizzeri G, Bowd C, Medeiros FA, Weinreb RN, Zangwill LM (2009) Effect of signal strength and improper alignment on the variability of Stratus optical coherence tomography retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements. Am J Opthalmol 148:249–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Yoo C, Suh IH, Kim YY (2009) The influence of eccentric scanning of optical coherence tomography on retinal nerve fiber layer analysis in normal subjects. Ophthalmologica 223:326–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hwang YH, Lee JY, Kim YY (2011) The effect of head tilt on the measurements of retinal nerve fiber layer and macular thickness by spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Br J Ophthalmol 95:1547–1551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Chaerdaky R, Shao H, Pandey A, Jun A, Chakravarti S (2013) The keratoconus corneal proteome: loss of epithelial integrity and stromal degeneration. J Proteomics 87:122–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Akhtar S, Bron AJ, Salvi SM, Hawksworth NR, Tuft SJ, Meek KM (2008) Ultrastructural analysis of collagen fibrils and proteoglycans in keratoconus. Acta Ophthalmol 86:764–772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kawano H, Sonoda S, Yamashita T, Maruko I (2016) Relative changes in luminal and stromal areas of choroid determined by binarization of EDI-OCT images in eyes with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease after treatment. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 254:421–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Fong AHC, Li KKW, Wong D (2011) Choroidal evaluation using enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease. Retina 31:502–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ishikawa S, Taguchi M, Muraoka T, Sakurai Y, Kanda T, Takeuchi M (2014) Changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness associated with uveitis activity in patients with Behcet’s disease. Br J Ophthalmol 98:1508–1513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Türkcü FM, Sahin A, Yüksel H, Akkurt M, Uçmak D, Çınar Y, Yıldırım A, Çaça İ (2016) Evaluation of choroidal thickness in psoriasis using optical coherence tomography. Int Ophthalmol 36:851–854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Maruko I, Lida T, Sugano Y, Oyamada H, Sekiryu T, Fujiwara T, Spaide RF (2011) Subfoveal choroidal thickness after treatment of Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease. Retina 31:510–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Dogru M, Karakaya H, Özçetin H, Ertürk H, Yücel A, Ozmen A, Baykara M, Tsubota K (2003) Tear function and ocular surface changes in keratoconus. Ophthalmology 110:1110–1118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lema I, Sobrino T, Duran JA, Brea D, Diez-Feijoo E (2009) Subclinical keratoconus and inflammatory molecules from tears. Br J Ophthalmol 93:820–824

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Galvis V, Sherwin T, Tello A, Merayo J, Barrera R, Acera A (2015) Keratoconus: an inflammatory disorder? Eye (Lond) 29:843–859

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. McMonnies CW (2015) Inflammation and keratoconus. Optom Vis Sci 92:35–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Bahçeşehir University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Burak Bilgin

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Adıyaman University, Adıyaman, Turkey

    Ayse Sevgi Karadag

Authors
  1. Burak Bilgin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ayse Sevgi Karadag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Burak Bilgin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all patients, and ethical approval was given by the local ethics committee (Approval number: 2017/19).

Consent for publication

The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent forms. In the form, the patient has given his consent for his/her images and other clinical information to be reported in the journal. The patients understand that their names and initials will not be published, and due efforts will be made to conceal their identity, but anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bilgin, B., Karadag, A.S. Choroidal thickness in keratoconus. Int Ophthalmol 40, 135–140 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-019-01156-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-019-01156-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation