Shen Yaochun, Zheng Yalin, Borgia Alfredo, Posarelli Matteo, Herbert Rose, Sharp Tom, Pagano Luca, Romano Vito, Madden Andrea, Undan Alexander, Kaye Stephen B
Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Department of Eye and Vision Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2025 May 22;10(1):e002167. doi: 10.1136/bmjophth-2025-002167.
To investigate central Bowman's layer thickness (BT) in relation to central corneal thickness (CCT) and curvature, and epithelial thickness in healthy and disease corneas.
Patients with keratoconus (KC), corneal dystrophies (CD) and healthy controls (HC) were included. Linnik and Mirau versions of an ultra-high axial resolution line field spectral domain optical coherence tomography device were used to image the cornea, in addition to commercially available devices. A supervised automated segmentation process was used to extract the quasi-point thickness of Bowman's layer.
62 participants: 24 with KC, 20 with CD and 18 HC were included. Mean central BT was 15.41 µm (SD 0.49; min-max: 12.28-19.54) in HC, 14.27 µm (SD:0.43; min-max: 11.22-18.25) in KC and 15.65 µm (SD 0.64; min-max: 12.42-20.06) in CD (mainly Fuchs CD). Patients with KC had thinner central BT than those with CD (p=0.03), but not compared with HC (p=0.13). Central BT was significantly associated with CCT (p<0.01), being on average 3% of CCT. The ratio of BT to CCT was independent of diagnosis (CD 0.028, HC 0.030, KC 0.028, p=0.88), age (p=0.23), sex (p=0.67), Kmax (p=0.77) or epithelial thickness (p=0.72).
Over sample populations of healthy, keratoconic and dystrophic corneas, central BT was consistently associated with corneal thickness and was independent of age, sex, Kmax, and epithelial thickness.
ISRCTN40558.
研究健康角膜和病变角膜中央鲍曼层厚度（BT）与中央角膜厚度（CCT）、曲率以及上皮厚度之间的关系。
纳入圆锥角膜（KC）患者、角膜营养不良（CD）患者和健康对照者（HC）。除了市售设备外，还使用了Linnik和Mirau版本的超高轴向分辨率线场光谱域光学相干断层扫描设备对角膜进行成像。采用监督自动分割程序提取鲍曼层的准点厚度。
共纳入62名参与者，其中24名KC患者、20名CD患者和18名HC。HC的平均中央BT为15.41µm（标准差0.49；最小值 - 最大值：12.28 - 19.54），KC患者为14.27µm（标准差：0.43；最小值 - 最大值：11.22 - 18.25），CD患者（主要是Fuchs角膜营养不良）为15.65µm（标准差0.64；最小值 - 最大值：12.42 - 20.06）。KC患者的中央BT比CD患者薄（p = 0.03），但与HC相比无差异（p = 0.13）。中央BT与CCT显著相关（p < 0.01），平均占CCT的3%。BT与CCT的比值与诊断（CD为0.028，HC为0.030，KC为0.028，p = 0.88）、年龄（p = 0.23）、性别（p = 0.67）、最大角膜曲率（Kmax，p = 0.77）或上皮厚度（p = 0.72）无关。
在健康、圆锥角膜和角膜营养不良的样本群体中，中央BT始终与角膜厚度相关，且与年龄、性别、Kmax和上皮厚度无关。
ISRCTN40558
