In vivo confocal microscopy and tear cytokine analysis in post-LASIK ectasia

Natasha Kishore Pahuja, Rohit Shetty, Rashmi Deshmukh, Anupam Sharma, Rudy M. M. A. Nuijts, Vishal Jhanji, Swaminathan Sethu*, Arkasubhra Ghosh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Aim Corneal keratectasia is one of the complications associated with laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) that results in vision impairment. The pathogenesis of post-LASIK ectasia (PLE) remains underexplored. We report the tear cytokine profile and in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) findings in eyes with PLE.

Methods This retrospective study included age-matched 7 (14 eyes) post-LASIK controls (PLCs) and 6 (12 eyes) PLE subjects. Corneal topography was used to categorise the subjects into PLC and PLE groups. Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores obtained were based on standard questionnaire and IVCM images were used to determine corneal dendritic cells density (DCD) and sub-basal nerve plexus morphology. Inflammatory cytokines/chemokines in the tears were quantified using flow cytometry based cytometric bead array.

Results Pentacam-based scores, OSDI scores and corneal DCD were significantly (p

Conclusion The current study found a significant difference in the tear film cytokine profile between normal and PLE eyes. Presence of increased corneal dendritic cells and altered tear cytokines suggests an ongoing inflammatory response in PLE.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1604-1610
Number of pages7
JournalBritish Journal of Ophthalmology
Volume101
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

Keywords

  • SITU KERATOMILEUSIS
  • CORNEAL ECTASIA
  • RISK-FACTORS
  • OCULAR SURFACE
  • DRY EYE
  • KERATOCONUS
  • EXPRESSION
  • SURGERY
  • CELLS
  • MCP-1

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