Using AS-OCT to Assess the Role of Age and Region in the Morphology and Epithelial Thickness of Limbus

NCT02500134 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 201406106RINC
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The limbus located between the cornea and the conjunctiva tissue, is important for not only providing a barrier frontier to prevent conjunctival tissue invasion into the cornea, containing nerves passing to the cornea, having blood and lymph vasculature for oxygen and nutrient delivery, but also the niche environment of limbal stem cells. So far, in vivo image systems are not able to visualize or identify the limbal stem cells directly. One alternative practical is to visualize the histological morphology of palisades of Vogt (POV), and to speculate the possible status of the stem cells accordingly. Slit-lamp biomicroscope can be used routinely for clinical examination of the limbal morphology. However, this technology does not allow for high resolution imaging of structural details and only up to 20% of patients can be identified. In vivo confocal microscopy has been used to visualize the POV and can provide cellular level resolution images, but the technique is limited by high magnification that restricts the area of the scan, and requires contact with the eye. Besides, both slit lamp biomicroscopy and in vivo confocal microscopy have the limitation of not being able to give an overall view of the dimension and structure of the whole palisades region. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) is a noninvasive, rapid and reproducible technique to evaluate the anterior segment and can also provide in vivo spatial information. The purpose of the study is to assess the role of aging and regions on the limbus.

Conditions

Limbus Corneae

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• thickness of limbus

  measure the thickness of limbus from the image of OCT, describe the morphology of limbus (typical pattern was defined as having the easily identified sharp tapering tip of subepithelial stroma pointing to the corneal-limbal junction with the maximum epithelial thickness of palisades of Vogt at least 1.5 X thicker than the central corneal epithelial thickness)

  1 day of inclusion

Study Arms (1)

Normal

Healthy volunteer control without ocular surface disease or prior ophthalmic surgery history

Other: Optical coherence tomography study on limbus

Interventions

Optical coherence tomography study on limbus OTHER

Optical coherence tomography study on limbus

Normal

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 6 Years - 90 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthy normal eyes without any ocular surface disease

You may qualify if:

• Healthy volunteer control without ocular surface disease or prior ophthalmic surgery history

You may not qualify if:

• Patients who decline to receive the diagnostic examinations.
• Patients younger than 6 years old or older than 90 years old.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Taiwan University Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

National Taiwan University Hospital

Taipei, Taiwan, 100, Taiwan

Location

Study Officials

• Wei-Li Chen, MD

  National Taiwan University Hospital

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 7, 2014
• First Posted: July 16, 2015
• Study Start: March 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2015
• Study Completion: August 1, 2017
• Last Updated: July 16, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-07

Locations

TW (1)