Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.50(12) > 1008441

Rhim, Kang, and Kim: Comparative Analysis of Contact and Immersion Technique in Ultrasonographic Biometry

Abstract

Purpose

To establish the accuracy of the newly released biometer Ocuscan RxP® (Alcon, USA) by comparison with the established Ultrasonic Biometer Model 820® (Allergan Humphrey, USA), and to compare the accuracy of contact and immersion biometries.

Methods

This is a prospective study involving 27 patients (40 eyes) who were scheduled for cataract surgery and had axial lengths measured with an Ocuscan RxP® biometer using both contact (Method 1) and immersion (Method 2) techniques. As a reference, a contact type Ultrasonic biometer 820® (Method 3) was also used. IOL(Intraocular Lens) power for the cataract surgery was calculated
using this result. An axial length which would have caused no post-operative refractive error was reversely calculated from the difference of target diopter and post-operative refractive error. This length was compared with the axial lengths obtained via Methods 1, 2 and 3.

Results

The means and standard deviations for the measurement sets were compared. Methods 1 and 2 showed no significant difference (23.22±0.68, 23.24±0.69 mm, p=0.55). The axial length measured by Method 3 was 23.32±0.67 mm. The difference between the target refraction and post-operative refractive error was 0.29±0.60D. The axial length was reversely calculated from the difference (23.07±0.84 mm). The differences between the reversely calculated axial lengths and those of Methods 1, 2 and 3 were 0.15± 0.31, 0.17±0.31 and 0.24±0.28 mm, respectively.

Conclusions

Biometric results from Methods 1 and 2 caused less refractive error than did Method 3. The contact and immersion methods are both accurate for IOL power calculation if performed by a well-skilled examiner.

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Figure 1.
Reverse calculation of axial length from the post-op refractive error.
jkos-50-1795f1.tif
Figure 2.
Comparison of axial length of each method and reversely calculated axial length.
jkos-50-1795f2.tif
Figure 3.
Comparison of method 1 (contact) and method 2 (immersion) with reversely calculated axial length.
jkos-50-1795f3.tif
Table 1.
Patient demographics
  Male Female
Patient number 13 14
Mean age 67 73
Age range 44∼82 55∼85
Table 2.
Mean axial length and difference with the reversely calculated axial length
  Mean± SD Difference with the reversely calculated axial length
Method 1 (Contact) 23.22±0.68 0.15±0.31
Method 2 (Immersion) 23.24±0.69 0.17±0.31
Method 3 (Reference) 23.32±0.67 0.24±0.28
Table 3.
Average IOL power calculated based on axial lengths by each method
  Average IOL power Difference with the error-free IOL
Method 1 (Contact) 20.87±1.54 0.39±0.76
Method 2 (Immersion) 20.84±1.56 0.42±0.78
Method 3 (Reference) 20.65±1.48 0.60±0.70
Table 4.
Number of cases which would have been the most correct method
  Correct moderate Most different
Method 1 (Contact) 23 8 9
Method 2 (Immersion) 10 20 10
Method 3 (Reference) 7 12 21
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