Geometrical Features of Subbasal Corneal Whorl-like Nerve Patterns in Dry Eye Disease

作者：Ziqing Feng, Yu Kang, Yu‐Pei Chen, Gengyuan Wang, Yuqing Deng, Wei Wang, Ruiwen Xu, Yimin Zhang, Peng Xiao, Jin Yuan · 发表于：Ophthalmology Science · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.xops.2024.100669 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Ocular Surface and Contact Lens、Corneal Surgery and Treatments、Connexins and lens biology

Purpose To investigate the geometrical feature of the whorl-like corneal nerve in dry eye disease (DED) across different severity levels and subtypes and preliminarily explore its diagnostic ability. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants The study included 29 healthy subjects (51 eyes) and 62 DED patients (95 eyes). Methods All subjects underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examinations, dry eye tests, and in vivo confocal microscopy to visualize the whorl-like corneal nerve at the inferior whorl (IW) region and the straight nerve at the central cornea. The structure of the corneal nerve was extracted and characterized using the fractal dimension (CND f ), multifractal dimension (CND 0 ), tortuosity (CNTor), fiber length (CNFL), and numbers of branching points. Main Outcome Measures The characteristics of quantified whorl-like corneal nerve metrics in different groups of severity and subtype defined by symptoms and signs of DED. Results Compared with the healthy controls, the CND f , CND 0 , and CNFL of the IW decreased significantly as early as grade 1 DED ( P < 0.05), whereas CNTor increased ( P < 0.05). These parameters did not change significantly in the straight nerve. As the DED severity increased, CND f and CNFL in the whorl-like nerve further decreased in grade 3 DED compared with grade 1. Significant nerve fiber loss was observed in aqueous-deficient DED compared with evaporative DED ( P < 0.05). Whorl-like nerve metrics correlated with ocular discomfort, tear film...