Difference of Corneal Thickness in Enucleated Eye.

Kim, Seong Hwan; Chung, Sung Kun; Myong, Yoon Won

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1998;39(7):1334-1339.
Published online July 1, 1998.

Difference of Corneal Thickness in Enucleated Eye.

Seong Hwan Kim, Sung Kun Chung, Yoon Won Myong

Department of Ophthalmology, Catholic University Medical College, Seoul, Korea.

적출안구에서의 각막두께 변화

김성환(Seong Hwan Kim),정성근(Sung Kun Chung),명윤원(Yoon Won Myong)

Abstract

The maintenance of corneal endothelial cells is essential for success of corneal transplantation. Endothelial cell count by specular microscope and measurement of donor corneal thickness is useful in measuring the function of cornea. We studied difference of corneal thickness in central and peripheral corneal region in enucleated eye. We measured corneal thickness of 48 eyes(48 persons) with ultrasound pachymetry that were presented to The Eye Bank of Catholic University Medical College. Average age was 61.42+/-16.12 years and average time was 163.02+/-102.52 minutes until measurement of corneal thickness after death. Increased amount of corneal thickness was 136.73+/-101.44micrometer in center and 61.37+/135.46micrometer in periphery compared with normal average corneal thickness. According to these results, corneal edema due to functional loss of endothelial cells after death lead to increased corneal thickness, especially in central region being more statistically significant than peripheral region (p=0.002).

Key Words: Corneal endothelial cell;Corneal thickness;Ultrasound pachymetry