title: Correlation of corneal thickness, endothelial cell density and anterior chamber depth with ocular surface temperature in normal subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze corneal surface temperature profile in a young and healthy study population and to determine the impact of corneal thickness (CT), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and endothelial cell density (ECD) on surface temperature.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this prospective, single-center study 61 healthy right eyes of 61 subjects without tear film pathologies (mean age 24.9 ± 6.7 years) were recruited. Ocular surface temperature (OST) was measured with the Ocular Surface Thermographer TG-1000. From Pentacam HR CT and ACD, and from specular microscopy ECD and central corneal thickness (CCT) were acquired. From the raw measurement data (OST, CT and ACD) we extracted a) local OST the corneal center and 3mm away from the center at the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions, and b) Zernike parameters Z1, Z2 and Z3 to evaluate the general temperature profile within a 6mm circular area around the center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, there was no correlation between OST and CT, ACD or ECD. Local OST did not correlate with CT at any measurement position. On average local OST was highest at measurement positions where CT was lowest, but without reaching statistical significance. Baseline OST was highest at thin corneal regions and temperature decay over time was smallest in those regions. Z1, Z2 and Z3 correlated well with CT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In healthy subjects corneal thickness, endothelial cell density and anterior chamber depth have no effect on corneal surface temperature. The general temperature profile seems to be influenced by the corneal thickness profile effecting a higher temperature and lower decay at thinner corneal regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pattmöller
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany; Department of Ophthalmology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Jiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zemova
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.affiliation: Experimental Ophthalmology, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eppig
authors.affiliation: Experimental Ophthalmology, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany. Electronic address: achim.langenbucher@uks.eu.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Langenbucher
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Nóra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Szentmáry
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000502:physiology*; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D002452:Cell Count; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology*; D063171:Corneal Pachymetry / Q000379:methods*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Corneal surface thermography; Endothelzelldichte; Hornhautdicke; Nonkontaktmessung; Oberflächentemperatur des Auges; Temperaturprofil; Temperaturänderung; Vorderkammertiefe; anterior chamber depth; corneal thickness; endothelial cell density; noncontact measurement; temperature change; temperature profile