Ultrasound biomicroscopy in patients with unilateral pseudoexfoliation

To compare the anterior segment morphology evaluated using ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) in patients with clinical pseudoexfoliation syndrome (XFS) in one eye and no clinical XFS in the fellow eye.

Thirty patients with unilateral XFS were included in the study. All patients underwent evaluation of their anterior segment using UBM with and without dilatation with 1% cyclopentolate. The anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT), anterior chamber angle (ACA), ciliary body thickness (CBT), scleral thickness (ST), trabeculae -ciliary processes distance (T-CPD), and iris-ciliary processes distance (I-CPD) were measured using UBM scans. All results between the eyes with clinical XFS and their fellow eyes without clinical XFS were then compared.

Before dilatation the eyes with XFS (4.350±0.531 mm) were found to have a significantly thicker lens (P=0.002) than the eyes without XFS (4.238±0.540 mm). In addition after dilatation, the eyes with XFS (4.310±0.500 mm) were found to have a significantly thicker lens than the eyes without XFS (4.160±0.480 mm) (P=0.019). The average ACD, for the group with XFS, comparing pre-dilatation (2.616±0.349 mm) and post-dilatation measurements (2.714±0.413) was found to be statistically increased (P=0.014). The average ACD, comparing pre-dilatation to post-dilatation measurements in patients without XFS (2.680±0.360), (2.720±0.500) was found to be statistically unchanged (P=0.450).

Crystalline lenses tended to be thicker in the eyes with clinical pseudoexfoliation than their fellow eyes without pseudoexfoliation.