Intraocular Pressure Measurements by Three Different Tonometers in Children with Aphakic Glaucoma and a Thick Cornea

BACKGROUND To evaluate the agreement in intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements by Ocular Response Analyzer (ORA) and Tono-Pen XL (TXL) with the Goldmann Applanation Tonometer (GAT) and to examine corneal biomechanical properties in aphakic glaucoma patients with a central corneal thickness (CCT) >600 µ. METHODS Thirty-six eyes of aphakic glaucoma patients (group 1) and 40 eyes of normal children (group 2) were studied. The mean ORA and TXL IOP values were compared with the GAT-IOP values. Regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations between IOP and CCT, corneal hysteresis (CH), and corneal resistance factor (CRF). Bland-Altman plots were used to evaluate the agreement between the tonometers. RESULTS The mean±standard deviations of the age and male/female ratio were 16.58±5.44 and 15.75±5.04 years and 14/22 and 18/22 in group 1 and group 2, respectively. CCT in group 1 was 651.1±42 and in group 2 was 567.3±32.4. In group 1, the mean TXL (22.4, P=0.004), IOPcc (corneal compensated) (27.8, P=0.005), and IOPg (Goldmann correlated) values (28.1, P<0.0001) were greater than GAT-IOP (20.6). In group 2, only IOPg value (16.4) was higher than GAT-IOP (14.8, P=0.04). IOP reading of all the tonometers were positively and negatively associated with CRF and CH in the multiple regression analysis, respectively. CONCLUSION The TXL had a greater agreement with the GAT, and the ORA overestimated IOP in aphakic glaucoma patients. The ORA and TXL seemed to be affected by CH and CRF.