While previously published work demonstrated the overall sensitivity of phase decorrelation optical coherence tomography (PhD-OCT) to crosslinking (CXL) in the cornea, it did not capitalize on the depth-resolving capability of PhD-OCT. Here, PhD-OCT was used to observe the depth-dependent differences in accelerated crosslinking efficiency with and without supplemental oxygen. Traditional crosslinking showed good crosslink formation in the anterior stroma. For accelerated CXL with supplemental oxygen, a significant stiffening effect was seen throughout the stroma. No stiffening was observed in accelerated CXL without supplemental oxygen or sham treatment. Thus, PhD-OCT may observe depth-dependent, protocol-specific changes in corneal tissue due to crosslinking.
|