Corneal endothelial cell density in patients receiving chemotherapy

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to determine if the corneal endothelium was affected by chemotherapy.

Methods

Chemotherapy patients were recruited to undergo specular microscopy before treatment and again at 1- and 2-year follow-up visits. One eye per patient, per follow-up, was selected for comparison to baseline.

Results

Forty-six volunteers completed baseline and at least one follow-up assessment. From 51 eyes, there was no significant change in endothelial cell density for 41 eyes assessed at one year (M_D = 0.73%, 95% CI −1.33 to 2.78%) and 18 eyes at two years (M_D = 0.31%, 95% CI −3.53 to 4.15%).

Conclusion

Although other studies have shown that chemotherapy can adversely affect the corneal epithelium, this study showed no measurable change in endothelial cell density.

Keywords:

• Chemotherapy
• ocular toxicology
• corneal epithelium
• corneal endothelium

Acknowledgements

The Louise von Hess Medical Research Grant provided funding support for clinical staff who collected the data and performed specular microscopy for this study. Krista Budzik, BSN, RN, OCN assisted in data collection and supervised the staff collecting the specular microscopy images. Alistair Barber, PhD reviewed and provided valuable feedback on an early draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).