Correlation of Corneal Endothelial Cell Density with Corneal Tomographic Parameters in Eyes with Keratoconus

Objectives: To examine changes in corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) in different stages of keratoconus and evaluate its correlation with corneal tomographic parameters. Materials and Methods: Two hundred six patients with keratoconus were enrolled in the study. Corneal topography was performed by Sirius (CSO, Italy), which has a rotating Scheimpflug camera and a Placido disc topographer. Automatic endothelial analysis was done with the non-contact endothelial microscope (20x probe) of Confoscan-4 (NIDEK, Japan). The eyes were classified into stages based on steepest keratometric value as follows: mild 52 D and according to thinnest cornea thickness (TCT) as 450 μm. Tomographic and endothelial cell parameters were compared among the groups using Kruskal-Wallis test and the correlations between them were analyzed using Spearman correlation. Results: The study included 391 eyes of 100 male (24.29±7.7 years, range 11-47 years) and 106 female (26.26±7.5 years, range 13-45 years) patients (p=0.07). Mean ECD values were 2628±262 cells/mm2, 2541.9±260.4 cells/mm2, and 2414.6±384.3 cells/mm2 in mild, moderate, and severe keratoconus, respectively (p450 µm, 400-450 µm, and <400 µm, respectively (p<0.001). ECD showed significant negative correlation with keratometric and elevation parameters and positive correlation with pachymetric parameters (p<0.05). Conclusion: As endothelial cell numbers seem to decrease with the progression of keratoconus, specular/confocal microscopy screening should be carried out, especially in eyes with advanced stages and corneas with TCT