Loureiro Tomás de Oliveira, Rodrigues-Barros Sandra, Lopes Diogo, Carreira Ana Rita, Gouveia-Moraes Filipe, Vide-Escada Ana, Campos Nuno Patricio
Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal.
Clin Ophthalmol. 2021 Feb 24;15:735-743. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S293695. eCollection 2021.
To evaluate corneal epithelial thickness (ET) and corneal thickness (CT) profiles in healthy eyes of Portuguese children and provide information to establish the first normative Caucasian database for these age group.
Sixty healthy eyes of 60 children aged between 8 and 18 were evaluated using the Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography device. The average ET and CT were assessed using Cirrus Review Software with predefined concentric corneal ring-shaped zones. Specific regions of ET (central, superior, inferior, temporal, nasal, superonasal, inferotemporal, superotemporal and inferonasal) were also assessed. The mean ET, the mean CT and the difference of ET in corresponding octants were compared by gender. Correlations between central epithelial thickness (CET), age and refractive error were evaluated.
The average ET was lower in the peripheric zones, whereas the average CT was higher. ET was thinner in the superior area than in the inferior (p<0.05). ET was thicker in boys than in girls (p<0.05), but CT did not differ. CET was not correlated with older age or refractive error.
Optical coherence tomography analysis of ET reveals that it is thinner in the periphery, where the CT is thicker. Unlike CT, ET seems to be influenced by gender. ET profile proved to be a useful tool in keratoconus diagnosis and subclinical keratoconus detection in adults. As epithelial changes occur early in the disease and keratoconus is more aggressive in pediatric population, a normative database of ET profile could contribute to enhance early recognition of the disease in this age group.
评估葡萄牙儿童健康眼睛的角膜上皮厚度（ET）和角膜厚度（CT）特征，并提供信息以建立该年龄组首个白种人的正常数据库。
使用Cirrus高分辨率光学相干断层扫描设备对60名年龄在8至18岁之间儿童的60只健康眼睛进行评估。使用Cirrus Review软件通过预定义的同心角膜环形区域评估平均ET和CT。还评估了ET的特定区域（中央、上方、下方、颞侧、鼻侧、鼻上方、颞下方、颞上方和鼻下方）。比较了不同性别之间的平均ET、平均CT以及相应象限中ET的差异。评估了中央上皮厚度（CET）、年龄和屈光不正之间的相关性。
周边区域的平均ET较低，而平均CT较高。上方区域的ET比下方区域薄（p<0.05）。男孩的ET比女孩厚（p<0.05），但CT无差异。CET与年龄较大或屈光不正无关。
对ET的光学相干断层扫描分析显示，在CT较厚的周边区域ET较薄。与CT不同，ET似乎受性别影响。ET特征被证明是成人圆锥角膜诊断和亚临床圆锥角膜检测的有用工具。由于在疾病早期会出现上皮变化，且圆锥角膜在儿童群体中更具侵袭性，ET特征的正常数据库有助于提高该年龄组对疾病的早期识别。
