Improved sampling and analysis of images in corneal confocal microscopy

Conclusion: The study demonstrated a significant difference in the CNFL values between the randomized and common sampling method indicating the importance of clear guidelines for the image sampling. The increase in CNFL and CNBD values when using the adjusted cornea area is not surprising. The observed increases in both CNFL and CNBD values when using the manual method of nerve quantification compared to the automatic method are consistent with earlier findings. This study underlines the importance of improving the analysis of the CCM images in order to obtain more objective corneal nerve fibre measurements. Lay description IntroductionCorneal confocal microscopy (CCM) is a nonharmful clinical method to analyse and determine the quality of corneal nerve fibres directly on the surface of the eye. Although the CCM technique is in constant progress, there are methodological limitations, such as choosing which images to analyse and how to perform objective nerve quantification. The aim of this study was to present a randomized sampling method of the CCM images and to develop an adjusted area‐dependent image analysis for nerve quantification. Furthermore, a manual nerve fibre analysis method was compared to a fully automated method. Methods23 patients diagnosed with a nerve fibre disease in the small nerve fibres were investigated using CCM. The length of the nerve fibres and the number of branches in the corneal nerves were determined in both a manual and automatic manner. D...
Source: Journal of Microscopy - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research