Age-related changes of corneal endothelium in normal eyes with a non-contact specular microscope

• Autores: Jorge Jorge, Antonio Manuel Marques Queirós Pereira, Sofia C. Peixoto de Matos, Teresa Ferrer Blasco, José Manuel González-Méijome
• Localización: Journal of Emmetropia: Journal of Cataract, Refractive and Corneal Surgery, ISSN-e 2171-4703, Vol. 1, Nº. 3, 2010, págs. 132-139
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • PURPOSE: To characterize endothelial morphological parameters as a function of age Setting: University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.

    METHODS: Three consecutive examinations were carried out using a non-contact specular microsopy in 256 right eyes of 256 healthy patients (88 males, 168 females) with ages from 6 to 82 years (mean ± SD, 44 ± 22 years) using a semi-automated mode of image analysis. Central corneal thickness (CCT), standard error of cell surface area (SEM), endothelial cell density (ECD), average cell size (ACS), coefficient of variation in cell size (CV), hexagonality index (HI) as well as the classification of cells by surface area and geometric shape were obtained. Correlations between quantitative descriptors and their associated standard deviation with subject’s age were investigated.

    RESULTS: All quantitative parameters of the corneal endothelial mosaic displayed differences among different age groups. ECD decreased and ACS increased at an average rate of 5 to 6%/decade (-144 cells/mm2 and +23µm2, respectively). Significant age-related changes were also found for cell surface counts, while weaker or non-significant correlations were observed for counts by cell geometry. Overall all parameters displayed a high level of repeatability with no significant differences among three consecutive readings or between individual readings and the mean value.

    CONCLUSIONS: Endothelial changes consisted on decrease in ECD and increase in ACS. Conversely, changes in CV and HI did not seem to be clinically significant suggesting that normal endothelial cell loss is an organized process that does not imply a disorganization of the endothelial mosaic in geometric terms.