Subclinical Keratoconus Detection and Characterization Using Motion-Tracking Brillouin Microscopy. 2024

J Bradley Randleman, and Hongyuan Zhang, and Lara Asroui, and Imane Tarib, and William J Dupps, and Giuliano Scarcelli
Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Electronic address: randlej@ccf.org.

OBJECTIVE To characterize focal biomechanical alterations in subclinical keratoconus (SKC) using motion-tracking (MT) Brillouin microscopy and evaluate the ability of MT Brillouin metrics to differentiate eyes with SKC from normal control eyes. METHODS Prospective cross-sectional study. METHODS Thirty eyes from 30 patients were evaluated, including 15 eyes from 15 bilaterally normal patients and 15 eyes with SKC from 15 patients. METHODS All patients underwent Scheimpflug tomography and MT Brillouin microscopy using a custom-built device. Mean and minimum MT Brillouin values within the anterior plateau region and anterior 150 μm were generated. Scheimpflug metrics evaluated included inferior-superior (IS) value, maximum keratometry (Kmax), thinnest corneal thickness, asymmetry indices, Belin/Ambrosio display total deviation, and Ambrosio relational thickness. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated for all Scheimpflug and MT Brillouin metrics evaluated to determine the area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity for each variable. METHODS Discriminative performance based on AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. RESULTS No significant differences were found between groups for age, sex, manifest refraction spherical equivalent, corrected distance visual acuity, Kmax, or KISA% index. Among Scheimpflug metrics, significant differences were found between groups for thinnest corneal thickness (556 μm vs. 522 μm; P < 0.001), IS value (0.29 diopter [D] vs. 1.05 D; P < 0.001), index of vertical asymmetry (IVA; 0.10 vs. 0.19; P < 0.001), and keratoconus index (1.01 vs. 1.05; P < 0.001), and no significant differences were found for any other Scheimpflug metric. Among MT Brillouin metrics, clear differences were found between control eyes and eyes with SKC for mean plateau (5.71 GHz vs. 5.68 GHz; P < 0.0001), minimum plateau (5.69 GHz vs. 5.65 GHz; P < 0.0001), mean anterior 150 μm (5.72 GHz vs. 5.68 GHz; P < 0.0001), and minimum anterior 150 μm (5.70 GHz vs. 5.66 GHz; P < 0.001). All MT Brillouin plateau and anterior 150 μm mean and minimum metrics fully differentiated groups (AUC, 1.0 for each), whereas the best performing Scheimpflug metrics were keratoconus index (AUC, 0.91), IS value (AUC, 0.89), and IVA (AUC, 0.88). CONCLUSIONS Motion-tracking Brillouin microscopy metrics effectively characterize focal corneal biomechanical alterations in eyes with SKC and clearly differentiated these eyes from control eyes, including eyes that were not differentiated accurately using Scheimpflug metrics. BACKGROUND Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007640 Keratoconus A noninflammatory, usually bilateral protrusion and thinning of the CORNEA, the apex being displaced downward and nasally. It occurs most commonly in females at about puberty. Two closely related noninflammatory corneal ectasias are pellucid marginal degeneration and keratoglobus. Keratoglobus,Pellucid Marginal Corneal Degeneration,Pellucid Marginal Degeneration,Degeneration, Pellucid Marginal,Marginal Degeneration, Pellucid,Pellucid Marginal Degenerations
D008853 Microscopy The use of instrumentation and techniques for visualizing material and details that cannot be seen by the unaided eye. It is usually done by enlarging images, transmitted by light or electron beams, with optical or magnetic lenses that magnify the entire image field. With scanning microscopy, images are generated by collecting output from the specimen in a point-by-point fashion, on a magnified scale, as it is scanned by a narrow beam of light or electrons, a laser, a conductive probe, or a topographical probe. Compound Microscopy,Hand-Held Microscopy,Light Microscopy,Optical Microscopy,Simple Microscopy,Hand Held Microscopy,Microscopy, Compound,Microscopy, Hand-Held,Microscopy, Light,Microscopy, Optical,Microscopy, Simple
D011446 Prospective Studies Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group. Prospective Study,Studies, Prospective,Study, Prospective
D003430 Cross-Sectional Studies Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time. Disease Frequency Surveys,Prevalence Studies,Analysis, Cross-Sectional,Cross Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Survey,Surveys, Disease Frequency,Analyses, Cross Sectional,Analyses, Cross-Sectional,Analysis, Cross Sectional,Cross Sectional Analyses,Cross Sectional Studies,Cross Sectional Survey,Cross-Sectional Analyses,Cross-Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Study,Cross-Sectional Surveys,Disease Frequency Survey,Prevalence Study,Studies, Cross-Sectional,Studies, Prevalence,Study, Cross-Sectional,Study, Prevalence,Survey, Cross-Sectional,Survey, Disease Frequency,Surveys, Cross-Sectional
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D019781 Corneal Topography The measurement of curvature and shape of the anterior surface of the cornea using techniques such as keratometry, keratoscopy, photokeratoscopy, profile photography, computer-assisted image processing and videokeratography. This measurement is often applied in the fitting of contact lenses and in diagnosing corneal diseases or corneal changes including keratoconus, which occur after keratotomy and keratoplasty. Topography, Corneal,Videokeratography,Corneal Topographies,Topographies, Corneal,Videokeratographies
D063171 Corneal Pachymetry Measurement of the thickness of the CORNEA. Corneal Pachymetric Measurement,Corneal Thickness Measurement,Corneal Pachymetric Measurements,Corneal Thickness Measurements,Measurement, Corneal Pachymetric,Measurement, Corneal Thickness,Measurements, Corneal Pachymetric,Measurements, Corneal Thickness,Pachymetric Measurement, Corneal,Pachymetric Measurements, Corneal,Pachymetry, Corneal,Thickness Measurement, Corneal,Thickness Measurements, Corneal

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