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.