title: Comparison of stromal corneal nerves between normal and keratoconus patients using confocal microscopy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the differences in stromal corneal nerves between normal patients and keratoconus patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 140 eyes of 70 normal patients (group A) and 122 eyes of 87 keratoconus patients (group B) were examined with the confocal microscope, with a central scan of the total corneal thickness being taken. The morphology and thickness of the corneal stromal nerves were evaluated by using the Navis v. 3.5.0. software. Nerve thickness was obtained from the mean between the widest and the narrowest portions of each stromal nerve.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Corneal stromal nerves were observed as irregular linear hyper-reflective structures with wide and narrow portions in all cases. Mean corneal stromal nerves thickness in group A was 5.7±1.7 (range from 3.3 to 10.4 μ), mean corneal stromal nerves thickness in group B was 7.2±1.9 (range from 3.5 to 12.0 μ). There was a statistical significant difference (P<.05) in stromal corneal nerves thickness between group A and group B.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stromal corneal nerves morphology was similar in both groups, but stromal nerves were thicker in keratoconus patients.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Córnea y Cirugía Refractiva, Asociación Para Evitar la Ceguera en México (APEC), Hospital Luis Sánchez Bulnes, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., México. Electronic address: mramirez-f@prodigy.net.mx.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramírez Fernández
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Córnea y Cirugía Refractiva, Asociación Para Evitar la Ceguera en México (APEC), Hospital Luis Sánchez Bulnes, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernández Quintela
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Córnea y Cirugía Refractiva, Asociación Para Evitar la Ceguera en México (APEC), Hospital Luis Sánchez Bulnes, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naranjo Tackman
mesh_terms: D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000294:innervation* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007640:Keratoconus / Q000473:pathology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal
keywords: Confocal; Cornea; Córnea; Estroma; Keratoconus; Nerves; Nervios; Queratocono; Stromal