Screening of sensitive in vivo characteristics for early keratoconus diagnosis: a multicenter study

Purpose: To analyze and compare sensitive in vivo characteristics for screening early keratoconus. Methods: This multicenter, case-control study included 712 eyes, after matching for age and biomechanically corrected intraocular pressure, from three clinics in different cities. The keratoconus ( n = 288), early keratoconus ( n = 91), and normal cornea ( n = 333) groups included eyes diagnosed with bilateral keratoconus, fellow eyes with relatively normal topography with unilateral keratoconus, and normal eyes before refractive surgery, respectively. After adjusting for central corneal thickness, differences in vivo characteristics were analyzed among the three groups. The in vivo characteristics were measured by Pentacam and Corvis ST. Fifty-four indices were evaluated to screen for a sensitive index for the detection of early keratoconus. Results: Significant differences were observed in 26 of the 36 corneal biomechanical indeces between the early keratoconus and normal corneas. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of tomographic and biomechanical index, Belin/Ambrósio deviation, and Da in differentiating keratoconus from normal cornea was 1.000. Among the top five indeces of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for detecting early keratoconus, the corneal biomechanical-related index accounted for 80% (4/5), including A1 dArc length, highest concavity radius, A2 time, and tomographic and biomechanical index, of which the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of A1 dArc length was 0.901. Conclusion: A1 dArc length and several corneal biomechanical indices are highly sensitive for the detection of early keratoconus, even in the absence of topographic abnormalities. Ophthalmologists should focus on the clinical application of corneal biomechanics and combine corneal tomography for the timely and accurate detection of early keratoconus.