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Newly developed biomechanical index can aid in diagnosis of keratoconus

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Riccardo Vinciguerra

NEW ORLEANS — A newly developed combined biomechanical index, named the Corvis Biomechanical Index, is highly sensitive and specific for separating healthy and keratoconic eyes, according to a speaker here.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time an index based on biomechanics has been able to produce such an efficient separation. The presence of an external validation data set confirms these findings and excludes over-fitting. These findings suggest the possibility of using biomechanics and the CBI in everyday clinical practice together, and not instead of topography and tomography, to aid the diagnosis of ectasia,” Riccardo Vinciguerra, MD, said at Refractive Surgery Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

Vinciguerra received the 2017 Troutman Prize for his study.

The CBI uses several corneal response parameters, including deformation amplitude ratio 1 and 2 mm, applanation 1 velocity, Ambrosio’s relational thickness to the horizontal profile, standard deviation of deformation amplitude at highest concavity and a novel stiffness parameter to separate healthy from keratoconic eyes, he said.

In a multicenter study, 658 patients were enrolled in two clinics to test the CBI’s capability to diagnose keratoconic eyes. The cohort included a total of 478 healthy patients and 180 keratoconic patients.

A validation data set showed the CBI identified 98.8% of patients correctly, with a 100% sensitivity and a 98.4% specificity.

“We got other external validation from all over the world, and the results are comparable,” Vinciguerra said. – by Robert Linnehan

References:

Vinciguerra R. Detection of keratoconus with a new biomechanical index. Presented at AAO Subspecialty Days; Nov. 10-11, 2017; New Orleans.

Vinciguerra R, et al. J Refract Surg. 2016;doi:10.3928/1081597X-20160629-01.

Disclosure: Vinciguerra reports receiving lecture fees from Sidus.