comparison of keratometric values using javal keratometer, oculus pentacam, and orbscan ii

purpose: to compare orbscan ii and pentacam keratometry readings in terms of their agreement with a manual javal type keratometer methods: in this retrospective study, records of patients who had refractive surgery were reviewed. we extracted data of 765 eyes which had keratometry with the javal keratometer of these, 577 had orbscan ii and 200 eyes had pentacam acquisitions. minimum (min-k) and maximum (max-k) keratometry readings and keratometric astigmatism with the latter two devices were compared with javal. results: correlation coefficients for javal and orbscan ii in measuring min-k and max-k were r=0.916 and r=0.913, respectively (p<0.001). the 95% limits of agreement (loa) between javal and orbscan ii was 1.17-1.20 d for min-k and 1.22-1.24 d for max-k. the coefficients for pentacam and javal min-k and max-k readings were very high (r=0.943 and r=0.962). the 95% loa between pentacam and javal in measuring min-k and max-k were 0.51-0.99d and 0.72-0.99d, respectively. the correlation between pentacam and javal measurements of keratometric astigmatism was stronger than that for orbscan ii and javal (r=0.973 and r=0.800) the 95% loa was 0.55-0.76d for pentacam and javal, and 1.14-1.19d for orbscan ii and javal.  conclusion: according to this research, orbscan ii and pentacam had high correlation and agreement with javal-keratometer in determining keratometric values. nevertheless, the results obtained from pentacam showed better agreement and stronger correlation with javal as compared with orbscan ii. it seems that pentacam is a suitable substitute for javal to perform keratometry in normal eyes.    iranian journal of ophthalmology 201426(1):3-10 © 2014 by the iranian society of ophthalmology