Computer-assisted corneal topography in parents of patients with keratoconus
V. Gonzalez and P. J. McDonnell
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles.
Recently developed computer-assisted devices allow detection of early
topographic abnormalities of the cornea, including mild or abortive forms
of keratoconus. To address the possibility that keratoconus is an inherited
condition, we examined both parents of 12 randomly selected patients with
keratoconus whom we were following up. Of the 12 sets of parents, at least
one parent in each of seven sets had abnormal corneal characteristics.
Using previously determined quantitative criteria (eg, central corneal
steepening, greater steepening inferiorly than superiorly, and asymmetry
between the two eyes) to distinguish normal from keratoconic corneas we
found evidence of keratoconus in at least one of the 14 parents. The
remaining five patients had parents with normal corneal characteristics.
These data support the hypothesis that keratoconus is sometimes an
inherited condition, exhibiting, at least in some families, autosomal
dominant inheritance with incomplete penetrance.
