Detection of Corneal Ectasia Using OCT Maps of Pachymetry and Posterior Surface Mean Curvature

PURPOSE: To quantify the abnormal corneal thinning and posterior surface steepening that is observed in keratoconus with an Ectasia Index. METHODS: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to image the corneas of normal individuals and patients with varying stages of keratoconus (manifest, subclinical, and forme fruste). Maps of corneal pachymetry and posterior surface mean curvature were generated, and an Ectasia Index was calculated by multiplying Gaussian fits obtained from the two types of maps. Repeated five-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate the ability of the Ectasia Index to differentiate between normal and keratoconic eyes. The classification performance of the Ectasia Index was compared to minimum pachymetry and maximum posterior mean curvature. RESULTS: Thirty-two eyes from 16 normal individuals, 89 eyes from 63 patients with manifest keratoconus, 16 eyes from 15 patients with subclinical keratoconus, and 26 eyes from 26 patients with forme fruste keratoconus were included in the study. During cross-validation, 100% of the eyes with manifest (89 of 89) and subclinical (16 of 16) keratoconus were correctly classified by the Ectasia Index. The average classification accuracy for the forme fruste keratoconus group was 63 ± 21% (16.4 of 26). The specificity for the normal group was 91 ± 10% (29.1 of 32). The Ectasia Index had a higher sensitivity for keratoconus detection and similar specificity in comparison to minimum pachymetry and maximum posterior mean curvature. CONCLUSIONS: The Ectasia Index could be a valuable additional metric for clinicians to consider when screening for keratoconus.