Corneal Epithelial Astigmatism Is Independent Of Anterior Corneal Astigmatism In Refractive Surgery Candidates.
Published 2024 - 42nd Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: FP16.06 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/em85-g721
Authors: Hagay Hayat* 1 , Shawn Sapir 1 , Daniel Serfaty 1 , Yaakov Bromberg 1 , Igor Kaiserman 2
1Barzilai University Medical Center,ashkelon,Israel, 2Barzilai University Medical Center,ashkelon,Israel;Faculty of health science Ben Gurion University of the Negev,Beer-Sheba,Israel
Purpose
To investigate the correlation between the corneal epithelial astigmatism and epithelial thickness distribution with other preoperative parameters in patients undergoing refractive surgeries
Setting
The study was conducted at the Care-Vision Laser Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, involving candidates who came to the clinic for pre-refractive surgery evaluations
Methods
A retrospective, single-centered cross-sectional analytic study in which we investigated the correlation between various preoperative parameters and the epithelial astigmatism using the AS (Anterior Segment)-OCT, MS39. The Epithelial astigmatism was measured by the MS-39 at two optic zones (OZ), 6 mm, and 3 mm diameters. In addition, we measured the epithelial thickness at the center and 4 major quadrants, as well as the epithelial thickness range (ETR). V-H epithelial thickness difference is the difference between the mean Vertical epithelial thickness and the mean Horizontal epithelial thickness.
Results
A total of 61 patients were included. The mean age was 32.41±10 and most participants were males (54.09%). No correlation was found between the corneal astigmatism (Kmax-Kmin) and the epithelial astigmatism at OZ 6 mm (r=0, p=0.95), or 3 mm (r=0.09,p=0.47). Nor between the subjective astigmatism and the epithelial astigmatism at OZ 6 mm (r= -0.03,p=0.79), or OZ 3 mm (r= -0.01,p=0.26). The epithelium thickness range was significantly correlated with manifest subjective cylinder (r=0.41, p<0.01), and the corneal astigmatism (r=0.34, p<0.01), as well as the epithelial astigmatism (r=0.31,p=0.01). The V-H thickness difference was significantly correlated with the preoperative BCVA (r= -0.29, p=0.02) and the corneal astigmatism (r=0.25, p=0.04).
Conclusions
The corneal epithelial astigmatism is independent of the total corneal astigmatism or the subjective refractive astigmatism. The epithelial astigmatism is linked to the ETR and mainly to the central-inferior epithelial thickness. Its implication on refractive surgery planning should be further investigated