Evaluation of corneal elevation and thickness indices in pellucid marginal degeneration and keratoconus

Abstract

To determine and compare corneal elevation and thickness indices, thereby formulating a reliable index to distinguish eyes with pellucid marginal degeneration (PMD) from keratoconus eyes and normal (control) eyes. LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. Initial model-building retrospective study. Anterior and posterior corneal elevations and thickness indices were obtained from the Orbscan IIz topographer. These values were analyzed and compared between PMD patients, keratoconus patients, and control subjects. Of the indices, the mean values of anterior elevation (AE), ratio of the AE to the anterior best-fit sphere, ratio of the average power values of nasal quadrant to the average power values of inferior quadrant, and difference between maximum keratometry (K) and minimum K were significantly different between the 3 groups (P<.05). The highest area under the receiver-operating-characteristic (AROC) curve in discriminating PMD from keratoconus was for asphericity (0.974; cutoff ≥-0.07; sensitivity 93.3%; specificity 90.6%) followed by the ratio of average power values of the nasal and temporal quadrants to the average power values of the inferior and superior quadrants (Avg NT((D))/IS((D))) (0.959; cutoff ≥1.005; sensitivity 96.7%; specificity 90.6%). The PMD index (AROC curve, 0.935), with a cutoff of 3.45 or higher had 90% sensitivity and 93.7% specificity to distinguish PMD from keratoconus and had 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity to distinguish PMD from control eyes, with a cutoff of 2.46 or higher (AROC curve, 1.000). The PMD index appeared to be highly sensitive and specific for diagnosing PMD. Asphericity and Avg NT((D))/IS((D)) were clinically relevant in discriminating PMD from other groups.