Evaluation of Anterior Segment Parameters in Non-Ocular Pediatric Behçet's Disease

To investigate the ocular anterior segment parameters in pediatric Behçet's disease (BD) without ocular involvement.

A retrospective study was conducted on 21 pediatric BD patients without ocular involvement and 24 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients were recorded. Central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal endothelial cell density (CD), coefficient of variation (CV), hexagonal cell ratio (HEX), standard deviation (SD), and average cellular area (AVG), as evaluated by specular microscopy, were recorded. Minimum thickness (Thk_min), epithelial minimum and maximum thicknesses (Epi-Thkmin-_max), stromal Thk_min (Str-Thk_min), keratometric front and back maximum power (KFmax, KB_max), simulated keratometry -flat (Kflat), steep (Ksteep), and average (Kavg)-, and front and back elevation values (Elf, Elb) values measured with a corneal topography device were examined.

Of the pediatric BD patients, 13 (61.9%) were girls, 8 (38.1%) were boys, and the mean age was 13.24±3.09 years. Of the healthy control patients, 14 (58.3%) were girls, 10 (41.7%) were boys, and the mean age was 13.29±2.96 years. No statistically significant differences were found in CCT, CD, CV, HEX, SD, and AVG values obtained by specular microscopy between pediatric BD patients without ocular involvement and healthy controls (p>0.05). In addition, no statistically significant differences were found between the Thkmin, Epi-Thkmin, Epi-Thkmax, Str-Thkmin, KFmax, KBmax, Kflat, Ksteep, Kavg, Elf, and Elb values in the corneal topography results of both groups (p>0.05).

No detectable changes in corneal parameters were observed in pediatric BD patients without ocular involvement. The anterior segment is an immune-privileged site.