The repeatability of corneal topography measurements in severe Dry Eye disease

To determine the repeatability of corneal topography measurements in severe dry eye disease (DED). A comparison of corneal topography parameters between severe DED and healthy subjects was a secondary goal of this study.

Sixty-nine patients with severe DED and 46 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. All participants underwent repeated corneal topography measurements with Pentacam (Oculus, Germany) within a half hour time. Both eyes of the participants were used in statistical analysis. A further subcategorization of severe DED patients was performed according to Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores: 32-50, 51-70 and 71-100. The repeatability of corneal parameters was assessed with correlation coefficients (CC).

The mean age of dry eye patients and healthy subjects were 40.8 ± 13.2 (17-66) and 39.8 ± 8.2 (18-61) years (p:0.604) respectively. No significant differences were found between severe DED and control groups according to analysed corneal parameters in both eyes (p:>0.05). All CCs were greater than 0.9 in severe DED group (p:<0.001). All CCs were also greater than 0.9 in severe DED patients among different OSDI groups (p:<0.001).

Corneal topography measurements are highly repeatable in severe DED with Pentacam. This is the first report about this topic. Nonetheless, further studies are needed with different topography devices for validation.