Diagnostic Accuracy of Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display in Pellucid Marginal Corneal Degeneration

Pellucid marginal degeneration (PMD) is an ectatic disorder in the corneal periphery and it is very important to detect PMD before corneal refractive surgery. The present study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display for the detection of PMD.

A total of 35 individuals with a diagnosis of PMD were enrolled in the current case series study. In order to match the control and study group, when the cases with PMD enrolled in the study, healthy participants with the same age and gender were selected from the normal population. Therefore, 35 eyes of 35 healthy individuals were recruited in the study, too. All the participants were evaluated using a Pentacam (Oculus, Optikgeräte GmbH), and then 15 indices from Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display were included in the analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display parameters.

Comparative data for the outcomes of Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display in both groups showed significant differences between PMD and normal groups (P < 0.05). Among the different parameters of Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display, front elevation in thinnest point, deviation of back enhanced elevation, and maximum Ambrósio Related Thickness had the highest sensitivity, specificity, and area under curves [(97.14%, 100.0%, 0.999), (91.4%, 87.9%,0.998), (97.14%, 96.97%, 0.996), respectively]; however, pachymetric progression index average was the relatively poor parameter (54.29%, 90.91%, 0.663, respectively).

According to the results, the Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display is useful for the detection of pellucid marginal corneal degeneration. Some indices showed very high sensitivity and specificity; however, the pachymetric progression index average has limitation in the detection of pellucid marginal corneal degeneration.