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Can in vivo confocal microscopy differentiate between sub‐types of dry eye disease? A review
Author(s) -
Hwang Jodi,
Dermer Harrison,
Galor Anat
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical and experimental ophthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.3
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1442-9071
pISSN - 1442-6404
DOI - 10.1111/ceo.13924
Subject(s) - medicine , immune system , confocal microscopy , pathology , disease , confocal , in vivo , dendritic cell , basal (medicine) , immunology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , optics , physics , insulin
Many studies utilised in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) to associate variations in corneal structures with dry eye disease (DED). However, DED is an umbrella term that covers various aetiologies and presentations. This review analyses populations by DED aetiology to determine the relationships between IVCM parameters and specific DED sub‐types. It focuses on the most commonly examined structures, sub‐basal nerves and dendritic cells. Across the literature, most studies found individuals with immune‐mediated DED had lower sub‐basal nerve fibre number and density than controls, with smaller differences between non‐immune DED and controls. However, wide ranges of values reported across studies demonstrate considerable overlap between DED sub‐types and controls, rendering these metrics less helpful when diagnosing an individual patient. Dendritic cell density was considerably higher in individuals with immune‐mediated DED than in non‐immune DED or controls. As such, dendritic cell density may be a better indicator of DED associated with a systemic immune‐mediated process.