This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (12)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Corneal Disorders  • Dry Eye Syndromes  • Alert me on articles by topic

Kazunori Miyata, MD; Shiro Amano, MD; Mitsuru Sawa, MD; Teruo Nishida, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:1537-1539.

Objectives  To propose a novel grading method for superficial punctate keratopathy (SPK) magnitude and to examine the quantitativeness of the method.

Methods  In 351 eyes diagnosed as having dry eye syndrome, SPK was graded as follows. After fluorescein staining, the total sum of the area of SPK was graded from A0 through A3, and the density was graded from D0 through D3. The grading was represented as the combination of the area and density grades. The correlation between the SPK grade and the corneal epithelial permeability to fluorescence, measured using an anterior fluorophotometer, was analyzed in the 351 eyes.

Main Outcome Measures  The correlation between the fluorescein concentration in the cornea and the sum of the area and density grades.

Results  The higher the density and area grades, the higher the fluorescein concentration, except for A3D2. There was a clear exponential correlation between the sum of the area and density grades and the fluorescein concentration in the cornea, measured using an anterior fluorophotometer. The regression curve was y = 61.2e^0.59x, where y is the fluorescein concentration (nanograms per milliliter), and x is the sum of the area and density grades (P<.001).

Conclusions  The SPK grade is positively correlated with the corneal epithelial permeability to fluorescence, measured using an anterior fluorophotometer. Our results indicate that this grading method can be clinically useful.

From the Meiwakai Medical Foundation, Miyata Eye Hospital, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki (Dr Miyata); and the Departments of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Tokyo (Dr Amano), Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo (Dr Sawa), Tokyo and the Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube (Dr Nishida), Japan. The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

A randomised, placebo controlled clinical trial of the aldose reductase inhibitor CT-112 as management of corneal epithelial disorders in diabetic patients
Nakahara et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2005;89:266-268.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Incremental nature of anterior eye grading scales determined by objective image analysis
Wolffsohn
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2004;88:1434-1438.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT