Comparison of corneal aberrations from anterior segment swept source OCT versus Placido-topography combined spectral domain OCT in cataract patients

BackgroundTo comprehensively evaluate the agreement of component corneal aberrations from the newly updated wavefront analysis software of a swept-source optical coherence tomographer (SS-OCT) and a referential Placido-topography combined OCT device in elderly cataract patients.MethodsRetrospective study including 103 eyes from 103 elderly patients scheduled for cataract surgery that were measured on the same day with a SS-OCT (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) device and a Placido-topography combined OCT device (CSO, Italy). Anterior, total, and posterior corneal wavefront aberrations were evaluated for their mean differences and limits of agreement (LoA) via Bland-Altman plots. Vector analysis was additionally employed to compare corneal astigmatism measurements in dioptric vector space.ResultsMean differences of all corneal aberrometric parameters did not exceed 0.05 & mu;m. Total corneal aberrations were not significantly different from 0 except for vertical coma (- 0.04 & mu;m; P = 0.003), spherical aberration (- 0.01 & mu;m, P < 0.001), and root mean square (RMS) higher-order aberration (HOA) (0.03 & mu;m, P = 0.04). The 95% LoA for total corneal aberration parameters between both devices were - 0.46 to 0.42 & mu;m for horizontal astigmatism, - 0.37 to 0.41 & mu;m for oblique astigmatism, - 0.19 to 0.17 & mu;m for oblique trefoil, - 0.33 to 0.25 & mu;m for vertical coma, - 0.20 to 0.22 & mu;m for horizontal coma, - 0.22 to 0.20 & mu;m for horizontal trefoil, - 0.11 to 0.08 & mu;m for spherical aberration, and - 0.22 to 0.28 & mu;m for RMS HOA. Vector analysis revealed no statistically significant mean differences for anterior, total, and posterior corneal astigmatism in dioptric vector space.ConclusionIn eyes undergoing cataract surgery with a regular elderly cornea, corneal wavefront analysis from the SS-OCT device showed functional equivalency to the reference device. Nevertheless, clinically relevant higher order aberration parameters should be interpreted with caution for surgical decision-making.