Clinical value evaluation of a new noninvasive ocular analyzer for the assessment of dry eye / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Background The incidence of dry eye is growing.However,the early diagnosis of dry eye is still difficult up to now.Keratograph 5M analyzer,a novel noninvasive ocular surface analyzer for dry eye may offer important parameters.Objective This study was to evaluate the clinical value of Keratograph 5M analyzer for clinical diagnosis of dry eye.Methods An observational study was proceeded with 88 cases who accepted myopia diagnosis in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital from October to December 2013.A series of conventional dry eye-related examinations were performed on the patients,including tear film break-up time (TBUT),corneal fluorescein staining scoring,Schirmer Ⅰ test (S Ⅰ t),and then Keratograph 5M analyzer-related examinations were subsequently carried out,including noninvasive tear film break-up time (NITBUT) and conjunctival hyperemia scoring.The correlations between conventional dry eye-related examinations and Keratograph 5M analyzer-related examinations were assessed by using Spearman rank correlation analysis.Results A total of 88 patients were recruited with male 32 and female 56.No significant difference in age was found between different genders (P =O.34).In 88 patients,Keratograph 5M analyzer showed the non-dry eyes in 15 patients,suspicious 44 patients (50.0％) and dry eyes in 29 patients (33.0％).However,the non-dry eyes were checked out in 39 patients and dry eyes were in 49 (55.7％) based on China Dry Eye Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Consensus.The first NITBUT (NITBUTf) was less than the average NITBUT (NITBUTav) (P =0.00),and a positive correlation was seen between them (rs =0.62,P =0.00).Dry eye grade was significantly correlated with NITBUTf or NITBUTav or conjunctival hyperemia scoring (rs =-0.60,P =0.00 ; r,=-0.89,P =0.00 ; rs =0.24,P =0.02).A negative correlation was found between the conjunctival hyperemia scoring and NITBUTav (rs =-0.24,P =0.02).However,no significant correlation was seen between conjunctival hyperemia scoring and NITBUTf,TBUT,S Ⅰ t or corneal fluorescein staining scoring (rs=-0.13,P=0.22;rs=0.16,P=0.14;rs =-0.16,P=0.13;rs=-0.08,P=0.44).No significant difference was found between TBUT and NITBUTf (P =0.71).And TBUT was correlated with NITBUTf (rs =0.23,P =0.03),but not NITBUTav (rs =0.18,P =0.09).In addition,no significant correlations were seen between S Ⅰ t and NITBUTf or NITBUTav (rs=0.20,P=0.07;rs=0.05,P=0.66).Conclusions NITBUTav has an important significance in assessing overall ocular surface conditions.The conjunctival hyperemia score is one of refrent indicators to judge ocular surface status.