The Role of Hi-Tech Devices in Assessment of Corneal Healing in Patients with Neurotrophic Keratopathy

To prove the role of high-tech investigation in monitoring corneal morphological changes in patients with neurotrophic keratopathy (NK) using Keratograph 5M (K5M) and anterior segment OCT (AS-OCT), corneal healing was monitored with Keratograph 5M (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) and AS-OCT (DRI, Triton, Topcon, Tokyo, Japan) in 13 patients (8F and 5M), aged from 24 to 93 years (67.8 +/- 19) with severe NK, who were treated with Cenegermin 0.002% (20 mu g/mL) (Oxervate(R), Dompe, Farmaceutici Spa, Milan, Italy). The surface defects were evaluated on Keratograph 5M with ImageJ software and the corneal thickness variations were measured using DRI-Triton OCT software. Instrumental procedures were performed at baseline, and after 4 and 8 weeks of the treatment, respectively. The main outcome measures were reduction of the ulcers' area and corneal thickness recovery. The mean area of the corneal ulcers was reduced between baseline and 4 weeks examination in all patients, and at 8 weeks all ulcers were completely healed. An increase of the corneal thickness was evidenced between the baseline visit and after the 4- and 8-week follow-up, respectively. Additionally, only in collaborating subjects the In Vivo Confocal Microscopy (IVCM) was performed with HRT Rostock Cornea Module (Heidelberg Eng GmbH) to study the corneal nerves fibres. High-tech diagnostics with K5M, AS-OCT and IVCM proved useful in the assessment of corneal morphology and the healing process in patients with NK and could be extended to assess other corneal pathologies.