ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the corneal characteristics in Marfan syndrome (MFS) patients of different ages with lens subluxation and explore their clinical significance.Methods Together 84 eyes of 45 MFS patients (MFS group) and 84 eyes of 84 control subjects (control group) were recruited in this study,and the patients in the MFS group were subdivided into two groups by age:5-14 year-old group with 49 eyes and ＞ 14 year-old group with 35 eyes.The biometric characteristics,including corneal curvature (i.e.Km),central corneal thickness,and corneal astigmatism,were measured by Pentacam.Results Compared with the control group,MFS patients had decreased Km and increased corneal astigmatism,approaching significant difference (both P =0.000).There were significant differences in anterior corneal curvature [(40.02 ± 1.42) D vs.(41.03 ± 1.57) D],posterior corneal curvature [(-5.71 ± 0.23) D vs.(-5.89-± 0.31) D],and total corneal astigmatism [(-1.71 ±0.84)D vs.(-1.34 ±0.78)D] between 5-14 year-old group and ＞ 14year-old group (all P ＜ 0.05).The anterior corneal astigmatism was significantly higher in 5-14 year-old group than that in ＞ 14 year-old group(P =0.017),whereas the posterior corneal astigmatism had no significant difference between the two groups (P =0.377).In 5-14 year-old group,the astigmatic type of total cornea and anterior corneal surface was dominated by with-the-rule astigmatism (69.39％),whereas the proportion of with-the-rule and oblique astigmatism was approximately equal ＞ 14year-old group.The astigmatic type of posterior corneal surface in 5-14 year-old group (accounting for 85.71％) and ＞ 14 year-old group (accounting for 77.14％)was dominated by against-the-rule astigmatism.The total corneal astigmatism was overestimated by a mean of 0.32 D when only taking the magnitude of anterior corneal astigmatism into consideration.Conclusion A flattened cornea and increased corneal astigmatism are the corneal characteristics for MFS patients with lens subluxation especially for the children patients.The magnitude of posterior corneal astigmatism remains unchanged and is primarily against-the-rule astigmatism.And the total corneal astigmatism can be easily overestimated if posterior corneal astigmatism is not taken into consideration.