Repeatability of In Vivo Corneal Confocal Microscopy to Quantify Corneal Nerve Morphology

• DOI: 10.1097/ico.0b013e3182749419
• Publication Date: 2012-11-21T09:12:30Z
• Authors: Ioannis N. Petrop...; Tauseef Manzoor; Philip Morgan; Hassan Fadavi; Omar Asghar; Uazman Alam; Georgios Ponirakis; Mohammad A. Dabbah; Xin Chen; James Graham; Mitra Tavakoli; Rayaz A. Malik
• Keywords: Repeatability; Coefficient of variation

Purpose: To establish intraobserver and interobserver repeatability, agreement, symmetry of corneal nerve fiber (NF) morphology in healthy subjects using vivo confocal microscopy. Methods: Nineteen underwent microscopy (Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph III Rostock Cornea Module) at baseline 7 days apart. Bland–Altman plots were generated to assess the intraclass correlation coefficient repeatability calculated estimate for NF density (numbers per square millimeter), branch (NBD; numbers length (millimeters tortuosity coefficient. Symmetry between right left eyes was also assessed. Results: Intraclass 0.66 0.74 0.17 0.64, 0.54 0.93 0.15 0.85, 0.34 0.77 0.63, respectively. NBD demonstrated low repeatability. Conclusions: This study demonstrates good manual assessment all major parameters with exception NBD, which highlights difficulty defining branches suggests need experienced observers or automated image analysis ensure optimal