Assessment of corneal and fatty tissues biomechanical response in dynamic tonometry tests by using inverse models

The assessment of corneal biomechanics is essential for studying ophthalmological operations, such as refractive surgeries, and for more accurate estimation of intraocular pressure. The chief aim of the current study is to characterize corneal and fatty tissues in order to construct a model to predict eye globe behavior during dynamic tonometry tests.

In the present study, images from corneal deformation, acquired from Corvis ST tonometer, were processed. Then, corneal pure displacement and eye globe retraction were calculated. Utilizing inverse finite element method, corneal material properties were calculated in order to predict pure deformation obtained from Corvis ST. Using a similar approach, material parameters of fatty tissue were estimated in order to predict the eye globe retraction. The model used for fatty tissue was considered as corneal boundary condition in a forward finite element model to create a joint model, which could simulate corneal behavior in dynamic tonometry tests.

It was shown that an isotropic material model is accurate enough to predict corneal deformation in dynamic tonometry tests. Moreover, effects of IOP on the estimated material properties were investigated. Finally, utilizing the joint model, it was demonstrated that there is strong correlation between corneal stiffness and the biomechanical parameter introduced by Corvis ST.

An eye globe model was constructed and characterized by two distinct inverse models for corneal and fatty tissue. This model can be utilized for predicting eye globe behavior during dynamic tonometry tests besides other ophthalmological operations.