Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39885039›Full record

ArticleGraefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie2025

Diagnostic performance of corneal epithelium- and Bowman's layer thickness mapping in patients with unilateral Keratoconus.

Niklas Pircher, Raphael Kilian, Florian Beer, Ruth Donner, Philipp Roberts, Michael Pircher, Christoph K Hitzenberger, Julia Aschauer, Gerald Schmidinger, Jan Lammer

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Article in Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Niklas Pircher *Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Raphael Kilian *Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
Florian BeerCenter for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Ruth DonnerDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Philipp RobertsDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Michael PircherCenter for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Christoph K HitzenbergerCenter for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Julia AschauerDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Gerald SchmidingerDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Jan LammerDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. jan.lammer@meduniwien.ac.at.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6218-5317

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo investigate the role of corneal epithelium- and Bowman's layer-thickness (ET and BLT) changes as possible early biomarkers of keratoconus (KC) development.

methodsIn this cross-sectional study patients with unilateral KC (UKC) and a group of healthy controls underwent polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) for the evaluation of corneal ET and BLT. These values were compared among three subgroups of eyes, i.e., eyes with KC, topographically and tomographically normal fellow eyes (FE) of patients with UKC, and healthy eyes (HE).

resultsTwelve patients with UKC (12 eyes with KC and 12 FE) and 21 healthy age-matched controls (HE) were included. While KC eyes showed the typical epithelial "doughnut pattern" on epithelial maps, there were no differences in ET between FE and HE. BLT was significantly higher in FE compared to HE (average BLT p = 0.049, minimum BLT p = 0.02, nasal-inferior quadrant p = 0.04) as weIl as KC eyes (average BLT p = 0.048, minBLT p = 0.04, nasal-inferior quadrant p = 0.03).

conclusionsIncrease in BLT seems to occur before epithelial thinning in FE of patients with UKC. Since many of KC patients develop the disease bilaterally, Bowman's layer thickening might represent an early biomarker of KC-development.

Indexed as

Bowman MembraneEpithelium, CornealKeratoconusTomography, Optical CoherenceAdultCorneal TopographyCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultBowman´s layer thicknessEpithelium thicknessKeratoconusUnilateral ectasia

Identifiers

PMID39885039
PMCPMC12148986

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.