Anterior chamber characteristics assessed by rotating Scheimpflug imaging in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate anterior segment parameters and corneal aberrations in patients with retinitis pigmentosa using Scheimpflug imaging and to compare the findings with those for healthy controls. Methods: This single-center, case-control study included patients diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa who were followed up at the Department of Ophthalmology of Kayseri Training and Research Hospital between February and tune 2018. Age- and sex-matched healthy individuals with no known ophthalmologic disease formed the control group. Both patients with retinitis pigmentosa and controls underwent comprehensive ophthalmic assessments, including the measurement of the best-corrected visual acuity calculation of the spherical equivalent, slit-lamp examination, stereoscopic fundus examination, computerized visual field test, and electroretinography. Topographic and aberrometric values were measured using Scheimpflug-based tomography. Results: This study was performed on 52 eyes of 26 patients with retinitis pigmentosa (14 men) and 52 eyes of 26 healthy controls (11 men). The average keratometry (K-avg) values for the patient and control groups were similar (43.87 +/- 2.23 versus 43.61 +/- 1.68; p=0.546), but the maximum keratometry (K-max) value was significantly higher in the patient group (45.85 +/- 2.35 and 44.69 +/- 1.86; p=0.015). Patients with retinitis pigmentosa had a significantly lower central corneal thickness (518.5 +/- 42.3 versus 534.1 +/- 24.5, respectively; p=0.042) and maximal corneal thickness (509.1 +/- 50.5 versus 530.5 +/- 24.1, respectively; p=0.015). Additionally, the iridocorneal angle for the patients was significantly lower (31.6 +/- 9.2 versus 35.9 +/- 7.7, p=0.025). The aberrometric findings indicated that patients with retinitis pigmentosa had significantly more higher-order aberrations than those in the healthy controls (0.794 +/- 51 and 0.398 +/- 08, respectively; p<0.001). Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrated that patients with retinitis pigmentosa have different anterior segment parameters and corneal aberrations compared to healthy controls. These results should be supported by further studies.