Evaluation of changes in the corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth and iridocorneal angle following the scleral buckling surgery

Purpose: To evaluate the changes in the corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth and iridocorneal angle following the scleral buckling surgery with anterior segment optical coherence tomography.Methods: Thirty-one eyes of 31 patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were included in this prospective study and fellow eyes comprised the control group. All patients underwent encircling buckling. Changes in corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth and iridocorneal angle were measured with Visante Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography (Model 1000, system software-version 3.0, Carl Zeiss, Germany) and axial length was measured with A-scan Ultrasonography (Nidek US-3300, Japon) before the surgery and one day, one week, one month, three months and six months after the surgery. Patients with recurrent detachments, patients with only eye, patients requiring additional vitreoretinal surgery and patients with corneal pathology were excluded.Results: No significant difference was present between the study and control group for corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth, iridocorneal angle, spherical equivalent and astigmatism preoperatively. Preoperative intraocular pressure in the study group was statistically significantly lower. There was a significant increase in the central corneal thickness at the first postoperative day and week. Corneal thickness began to decrease after the first postoperative day and became slightly thinner than preoperative values at the postoperative one month. The decrease in the anterior chamber depth at the postoperative first day, first week, first month, third month, six months with respect to the preoperative values was statistically significant. The increase in the axial length at the postoperative first day, first week, first month, third month, six month with respect to the preoperative values was statistically significant. Postoperative axial eye length was increased to 1.17 mm at postoperative first day, 1.23 mm at first week, 1.14 mm at first month, 0.94 mm at third month, 0.74 mm at six months compared to preoperative values and this increase was statistically significant. The increase in the astigmatism at the postoperative first day, first week, first month, third month with respect to the preoperative values was statistically significant. The decrease in the iridocorneal angle 0º values at the postoperative first day, first week, first month, third month and iridocorneal angle 180? values at the postoperative first day, first week, first month with respect to the preoperative values was statistically significant. The myopic shift in the spherical equivalent at the postoperatif first day, first week, first month, third month and six month with respect to the preoperative values was statistically significant. Myopic shift was increased to -2.61 D at the first postoperative day, -2.4 D at first week, -2.34 D at first month, -2.08 D at third month, -1.84 D at six months compared to preoperative values.Conclusion: The change in the central corneal thickness, iridocorneal angle and astigmatism after scleral buckling surgery was mild and temporary and almost returned to preoperative levels within six months. However, increase in the axial length, myopic shift and anterior chamber shallowing remained and did not return to preoperative values even after six months.Key Words: Anterior chamber depth, Axial length, İridocorneal angle, Retinal detachment, Scleral buckling, Visante OCT.