Comparative study of two central corneal thickness measurements in glaucoma patients

Abstract

Background: Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) has been the gold standard for IOP measurements in glaucoma patients. The accuracy of GAT measurements is dependent on many factors, particularly the central corneal thickness (CCT) has been shown to have effect on IOP measurements. Objective: To compare of two central corneal thickness measurements in glaucoma patients. Material and Method: Forty-five right eyes of 45 patients were enrolled. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination. CCT measurements were performed with an ultrasound pachymeter on two different visits. Patients presenting Diabetes Mellitus (DM), previous history of intraocular surgery and laser were excluded. Antiglaucoma medications were allowed to use during the study. For statistical analysis, paired t-test was used. Results: In the present study, the mean age of patients was 59.18 years. (range 40-91 years). Twenty-one patients (46.7%) were male and twenty-four patiens (53.3%) were female. The interval between two measurement periods was 8.42 weeks (range 2-24 weeks). The mean CCT values were not significantly different between the two visit (521.29 micron SD 32.52 micron and 518.76 micron SD 33.26 micron; p = 0.15). Conclusion: In the present study which excluded patients with DM, previous history of intraocular surgery and laser treatment was shown that there was no statistically significant difference in CCT measurements on different occasions.