Comparison of artemis 2 ultrasound and Visante optical coherence tomography corneal thickness profiles.

PURPOSE To compare corneal thickness profiles of cross-sections of cornea determined by arc-scanned immersion ultrasound and optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS Corneas of 28 eyes from 14 participants were scanned in triplicate using the Artemis 2 high-frequency arc-scanned ultrasound system (ArcScan Inc) and the Visante OCT system (Carl Zeiss Meditec). Corneal thickness and reproducibility were compared within 3.5 mm of central cornea in the horizontal plane. RESULTS Although highly correlated, Visante central and peripheral corneal thickness values were systematically thinner than Artemis 2 values. Within the central 0.5 mm, the difference was approximately 8 μm, but the difference increased with distance from the center. Reproducibility for each instrument was comparable, measuring <4 μm centrally and increasing peripherally. CONCLUSIONS Visante OCT measurements of corneal thickness are thinner than Artemis 2 ultrasound values centrally with an increasing difference with peripheral position. Measurement reproducibility was comparable for the two techniques.