The following is a summary of “In-vivo high-frequency quantitative ultrasound-derived parameters of the anterior sclera correlated with level of myopia and presence of staphyloma,” published in the July 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Hoerig et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study assessing in vivo anterior sclera (AS) microstructure and biomechanical properties using a high-frequency point-of-care (POC) ultrasound device and quantitative ultrasound (QUS) methods.

They examined the link between eye parameters and refractive errors (RE) in 85 patients using POC for scanning both eyes of each participant and analyzed the ultrasound data to obtain QUS parameters. The correlation between the parameters and RE or eye length was identified by statistical methods like Pearson correlation and multi-linear regression. Additionally, the eyes were categorized based on RE, and binary support vector machines (SVM) were trained using either QUS data or other eye measurements (anterior chamber depth, corneal thickness, power, and intraocular pressure) to differentiate each eye. The effectiveness of the models was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC). 

The result showed that individual QUS measurements were associated with RE and axial length (P<0.05). A significant correlation was observed between the group of QUS parameters and RE using multi-linear regression (R=0.49, P<0.001) and axial length (R=0.46, P=0.001). Classifiers trained with QUS parameters had increased AUC (P=0.06) compared to eyes trained with ophthalmic parameters (AUC = 0.63), The highest AUC for QUS-based classifiers was achieved by identifying highly myopic eyes (AUC = 0.77).

Investigators concluded that QUS measurements offer a promising tool for assessing myopia progression and potential complications, complementing existing eye exams.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ceo.14415