A Study Of Confocal Microscopy And Specular Microscope On Corneal Endothelial Cells

Aim: To compare the differences of endothelial cell density observed by confocal microscopy and specular microscope,and compare the indexes ofthe two methods.Methods: A total of 70 patients(108 eyes)were enrolled in the Department of Ophthalmology,the afficiated hospital of Qingdao University from July 2016 to January2017,and the patients were examined by confocal microscopy and specular microscope.The corneal endothelial cell density was measured by confocal microscopy in 6 groups,group 1(corneal endothelial cell density 500-1000 / mm2),group 2(corneal endothelial cell density 1000-1500 / mm2),group 3(corneal endothelial cell density1500-2000 / mm2),group 4(corneal endothelial cell density 2000-2500 / mm2),group5(cornea endothelial cell density of 2500-3000/ mm2),group 6(corneal endothelial cell density greater than 3000 / mm2).Before and after the study,the patients' general condition,sex,age,eye surgery and lesion were recorded.The density,coefficient of variation,percentage of hexagonal cells,average cell size and morphology of corneal endothelial cell were measured by confocal microscopy and specular microscope.The results of six groups were analyzed by Graph Pad Prism software.Results: The density of corneal endothelial cells measured by confocal microscopy in the was889±94/mm2,1333±157/mm2,1818±147/mm2,2246±148/mm2,2729±145/mm2,3231±199/mm2 respectively.The corneal endothelial cell density measured by specular microscopewas1062±103/mm2,1601±358/mm2,2093±329/mm2,2451±3445/mm2,2534±369/mm2,2895±154/mm2,respectively.In group 1,group 2,group 3 and group 4,the density of corneal endothelial cells measured by confocal microscopy was lower than that measuredby specular microscope(P ?0.05).In group 5and group 6,the density of corneal endothelial cells measured by confocal microscopy was higher than that measuredby specular microscope(P <0.05).The coefficient of variation of the corneal endothelial cells measured by confocal microscopy was significantly larger than that measuredby the specular microscope(P = 0.006),the proportion of hexagonal cells was smaller(P = 0.001),and the average cell size of corneal endothelial cells was larger(P =0.007).Conclusion:Confocal microscopy and specular microscopecan be used an instrumennt to evaluate the state of corneal endothelial cells,they can not be replaced each other.Our findings suggested confocal microscopy has a certain superiority in assessing the function of corneal endothelial cells.