title: Corneal curvature and axial length values in children with congenital/infantile cataract in the first 42 months of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate corneal curvature (K(m)) and axial length (AL) of eyes of term-born children aged <3.5 years with uncomplicated congenital cataract and provide age-specific estimates.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective review of patients undergoing cataract extraction from January 1994 to December 2006. Exclusion criteria were preterm birth, microphthalmia, microcornea, megalocornea, glaucoma, traumatic or complicated cataract, retinal disease. Keratometric readings were taken with an autokeratometer before surgery. Linear regression with the logarithm of the patient's age as an independent variable was used to model the relationship between the patient's age and biometric and keratometric readings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All unilateral cataractous eyes (n = 69) and a randomly selected eye in bilateral cases (n = 111) were included in the analysis, for a total of 180 eyes. Mean age was 15.5 +/- 11.8 months; mean AL, 20.03 +/- 2.25 mm; mean K(m), 45.07 +/- 3.00 D. K(m) was significantly greater and AL shorter in younger children (P < 0.001). No differences according to sex were found. As a group, eyes from unilateral cataract had significantly longer AL than those from bilateral cases (P = 0.029). In a small subgroup of unilateral cataract patients for which readings from the clear lens eye were available (n = 39), K(m) of the affected eye was significantly greater than that of the fellow healthy eye (P = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the first 42 months of age, K(m) and AL are significantly different according to age. These findings have implications for the calculation of intraocular lens power in children.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Bambino GesuChildren's Hospital, Rome, Italy. paolocapozzi@virgilio.it
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Capozzi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morini
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piga
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cuttini
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vadalà
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D002386:Cataract / Q000151:congenital* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003315:Cornea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D033401:Microscopy, Acoustic; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors