Incidence of prominent corneal nerves in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A

We studied the increased visibility of corneal nerves inside an 8-mm diameter central corneal area in 14 patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A, one patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B, five patients with nonhereditary medullary thyroid carcinoma, ten patients with anterior keratoconus, and ten normal subjects. We used a grading system (grade 0 through grade 4) for nerve visibility based on slit-lamp biomicroscopic examination and photographic documentation. All 20 normal eyes showed either grade 0 or grade 1, which indicated no pathologic thickening of corneal nerves. Sixteen of the 28 eyes (57%) with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A, however, were evaluated as grade 2 or higher, which indicated thickened corneal nerves. The incidence of high nerve visibility in eyes with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A was significantly greater compared to normal eyes (P less than .0001), anterior keratoconus (P less than .0001), and nonhereditary medullary thyroid carcinoma (P = .0012). Furthermore, eight of the 28 eyes (29%) with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A showed markedly prominent corneal nerves (grade 3 and 4), a prominence similar to those seen in eyes with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B. There was no definite relationship among prominent nerve, age of the patient, and occurrence of pheochromocytoma. These findings suggest that over half of all patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A show corneal nerves pathologically thickened to different degrees.