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Corneal hysteresis more telling than corneal thickness regarding glaucoma risk
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NEW ORLEANS — Corneal hysteresis measurements correlated more closely with glaucoma damage progression than corneal thickness measurements and may replace thickness as the corneal property of interest concerning glaucoma risk, a speaker said here.
“Unlike corneal thickness, hysteresis is measuring the behavior of the cornea that’s dynamic,” Nathan M. Radcliffe, MD, said at Glaucoma Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. “It may represent mechanical stress that a particular eye is experiencing. Hysteresis is lower in eyes with higher pressure, but it’s also lower in eyes with lower pressure that have a lot of glaucoma damage.”
Nathan M. Radcliffe
The properties of hysteresis have potential roles as both an IOP correction factor and a surrogate marker of a patient’s susceptibility to glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Additionally, it has been found that IOP measurements adjusted for corneal hysteresis are independent of corneal thickness, Radcliffe said.
According to Radcliffe, evidence suggesting corneal hysteresis is more closely correlated to glaucoma progression than corneal thickness has been published in at least four studies.
Disclosure: Radcliffe has financial interests in Alcon, Allergan, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Glaukos, Iridex and Merck.