Evaluation of hypoxic swelling of human cornea with high speed, ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography

Hypoxia induced corneal swelling was observed and evaluated in healthy human volunteers by use of high speed, ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography (UHROCT). Two dimensional corneal images were acquired at a speed of 47,000 A-scans/s with 3μm x 10μm (axial x lateral) resolution in corneal tissue. The UHROCT tomograms showed clear visualization of all corneal layers, including the Bowman’s layer and the Descemet’s membrane – Endothelium complex. A segmentation algorithm was developed and used for automatic detection of the boundaries of the different corneal layers and evaluation the individual layer thickness as a function of location. Corneal hypoxia was induced by wear of a soft contact lens (SCL) and an eye patch by 2 healthy volunteers for duration of 3 hours. The thickness of all corneal layers was measured as a function of time, prior to, with and after removal of the SCL. Results from the hypoxia study showed different rates of swelling and de-swelling of the individual corneal layers. About 10% increase in the total cornea thickness was observed, similar to the changes in the stroma, the Bowman’s membrane swelled by 20%, while no significant change in the thickness was observed in the Descemet’s – Endothelium complex.