Objective quantification of corneal haziness using anterior segment optical coherence tomography

Purpose: to quantify normal corneal transparency by anterior segment optical coherence tomography (as-oct) by measuring the average pixel intensity. to analyze the variation in the average pixel intensity in mild and severe grades of corneal opacities. methods: this is an observational, cross-sectional study of 38 eyes from 19 patients with mild or severe grades of corneal opacities greater than 3 mm and a normal contralateral cornea. as-oct was performed centered on the opacity with a 3 mm cruciate protocol. a similar image is taken of the contralateral clear cornea in the same quadrant. the average pixel intensity was calculated in a standardized manner using matlab software. result: the average pixel intensity of the normal cornea was 99.6 ± 10.9 [standard deviation (sd)]. the average pixel intensity of the mild and severe corneal opacities was 115.5 ± 9.1 and 141.1 ± 10.3, respectively. the differences were statistically significant. conclusions: as-oct images can be used to quantify corneal transparency. average pixel intensity is a measure that varies significantly with varying corneal opacification.