Children with Uveitis Demonstrate Decreased Corneal Clarity

Children with uveitis have decreased corneal clarity, but no change in lenticular clarity compared with children with systemic inflammation or no ocular pathologies, according to research published in Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy.

Researchers collected data from 29 children with non-infectious uveitis (15 girls; mean age, 12.0±3.1 years), 28 children with systemic inflammation without uveitis (15 girls; mean age, 11.9±4.0 years), and 31 control group children (14 girls; mean age, 11.3±3.4 years). Participants underwent Scheimpflug imaging to obtain corneal and lenticular optical density, corneal volume, central corneal thickness, and keratometry measurements. Specular microscopy was used to measure corneal endothelial cell density, hexagonal cell ratio, and coefficient of variation.

Among children with uveitis, anterior uveitis was present in 16 (29.1%) eyes, intermediate uveitis was observed in 32 (58.2%) eyes and panuveitis was present in 7 (12.7%) eyes. A total of 40% of eyes (n=22) had active uveitis and 60% (n=33) had inactive uveitis. 

Investigators report corneal optical density was greater in children with uveitis compared with both other groups (P =.001). Lenticular density and other corneal parameters were not statistically different between the groups. Corneal optical density was greater among participants with active uveitis compared with participants who had inactive uveitis (P =.017), and corneal endothelial parameters did not change significantly based on ocular or systemic inflammation.

“Our findings indicate that children with uveitis are not under extra risk of corneal edema in case of a surgical plan and it might be helpful for ophthalmologists who are involved in pediatric uveitis care and cataract surgery as well,” according to the researchers. “The establishment of automatized optical density measurements within the device might contribute to an easy and objective screening of subclinical clarity alterations.”

Study limitations include a lack of laser flare photometry measurements, inclusion of participants who were already under treatment for uveitis, and an uncertainty of disease duration among participants.

Reference

Cetin EN, Akbulut S, Tekin ZE, et al. Corneal and lenticular clarity in children with inflammatory disease as assessed by Scheimpflug imaging. Photodiagnosis Photodyn Ther. Published online July 23, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2022.103032