Quantitative Analysis of the Iris Surface Smoothness by Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography in Fuchs Uveitis

ABSTRACT

Objective

To demonstrate the value of “smoothness index (SI)” as a novel tool for quantitative analysis of iris surface findings in unilateral Fuchs’ uveitis (FU).

Methods

Both phakic eyes from patients with unilateral FU as well as healthy control subjects underwent anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). The ImageJ software was used for calculating the SI.

Results

Forty eyes from 20 patients with unilateral FU and 40 eyes from 20 healthy subjects were enrolled. In FU eyes, mean overall SI (0.876 ± 0.030) was significantly higher than fellow control eyes (0.841 ± 0.041) (p = .001). Mean inter-eye difference for overall SI in the FU patients (0.037 ± 0.030) was significantly larger than the healthy control subjects (0.018 ± 0.014) (p = .033).

Conclusion

Iris “smoothness index” can be used to quantitatively assess iris surface smoothness and may facilitate the diagnosis of subtle iris atrophic changes in eyes affected by FU especially in the absence of heterochromia.

KEYWORDS:

• Fuchs uveitis
• iris atrophy
• smoothness index
• anterior segment OCT

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Azar Rezaei, Maryam Kasiri, and Nastaran Salimi for their kind contribution to this study.

Declaration of interest

None of the authors have any proprietary interests or conflicts of interest related to this submission.

Availability of data and material

The data generated during or/and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author.

Authorship criteria

All authors attest that they meet the current ICMJE criteria for Authorship.

This work involving human data were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Author contributions

MZ contributed to the study conception and design. MZ, NE, HRE, and EK contributed to the acquisition of data. MZ, EK contributed analysis and interpretation of data. HRE contributed to the drafting of manuscript. MZ, EK, HRE, and NE contributed to the critical revision. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting, and critically revising the article and agree to be accountable for all aspects. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.