Zhu F, Li M, Zhang C, Chen C, Ying F, Nie D. In vivo confocal microscopy qualitative investigation of the relationships between lattice corneal dystrophy deposition and corneal nerves.
BMC Ophthalmol 2021;
21:449. [PMID:
34961485 PMCID:
PMC8711164 DOI:
10.1186/s12886-021-02149-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
To investigate the corneal neurotropic phenomenon in patients with lattice corneal dystrophy (LCD) with in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy (IVCM).
Methods
IVCM was performed on a total of 15 patients (28 eyes) with LCD annually at a follow-up. A collection of the data was acquired to be analyzed.
Results
As indicated by the analysis, the LCD patients’ normal corneal stromal nerves (Grade 0) presented a decline with the prolongation of the follow-ups, corresponding to a gradual increase in grade I and II involving amyloid-wrapped nerve fibers, which demonstrated that the growing amount of amyloid deposit due to the corneal nerve invasion increased slowly over time.
Conclusions
The neurotropic phenomenon could increase with its severity in the corneal lesion of the patients with LCD, and also reflect the distribution of the corneal nerves, to some extent. IVCM provides a rapid, noninvasive way to observe the corneal nerves, which can be an efficient means of better understanding the development of LCD.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-02149-1.
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