Objective To study the histopathologic and cellular alteration of the cornea in patients with pterygium using in vivo confocal microscopy.Methods It was a prospective self-control study.Forty patients with unilateral primary pterygium were examined with the Heidelberg retina tomograph (HRT Ⅱ)/Rostock cornea module (RCM).The patients's contralateral eye without pterygium was used as the control.The analysis included the examination of the typical pterygium structure,and the quantitative assessment of the morphological changes of the epithelium,subbasal nerves,stroma and endothelium of the adjacent cornea.Data were compared with a paired t test.Results Under confocal microscopy,the superficial cells of the pterygium appeared as hyper-reflective cytoplasm with less bright cell borders.Small capillaries,Langerhans cells (LCs) and microcysts containing hyper-reflective round cells could be observed occasionally.Morphological changes were noted in intermediate cells and basal cells of the epithelium at the peripheral cornea adjacent to the pterygium.The density of epithelial cells and anterior stromal cells was significantly reduced more in the diseased eye than in the control eye (t=-3.92,-3.55,-3.36,-2.61,-4.31,-4.11,P<0.05).The number of LCs at the peripheral cornea adjacent to the pterygium was significantly increased compared to the control eye (t=3.75,4.23,P<0.05).The sub-basal nerves at central cornea of pterygium were mess with much tortuosity (t=5.02,P<0.01) and branch (t=2.51,P<0.05).Conclusion In vivo confocal microscopy can observe significant alterations in cell density,cell morphology,and the appearance of the sub-epithelial nerve plexus of the central and peripheral cornea of pterygium.
茅晓红,胡楠,吴玉宇,程争平. 共焦显微镜对翼状胬肉及其周围角膜的组织病理学观察[J]. 中华眼视光学与视觉科学杂志, 2012, 14(11): 691-694.
MAO Xiao-hong,HU Nan,WU Yu-yu,CHENG Zheng-ping. In vivo confocal microscopy of cornea in patients with pterygium. Chinese Journal of Optometry Ophthalmology and Visual science, 2012, 14(11): 691-694. DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1674-845X.2012.11.013