Validation of Alternative Methods for Detecting Meibomian Gland Dropout Without an Infrared Light System: Red Filter for Simple and Effective Meibography

Purpose:
To evaluate the validity and reliability of alternative methods for evaluating meibomian gland (MG) dropout without using an infrared light system: red-filtered or isolated red-channel images (RCIs) of the everted eyelid.
Methods:
We evaluated MG dropout in the everted upper and lower eyelids of 125 eyes of 64 patients with good-quality infrared meibography images (IMIs) and color digital photographs with and without a red filter. Red-filtered images (RFIs) were converted to black and white and adjusted for contrast/brightness [adjusted red-filtered images (aRFIs)]. RCIs were computationally isolated from color digital photographs obtained without a red filter. After randomization, the total meiboscore (0–6) was evaluated by 2 independent evaluators (interobserver reliability) masked to the image origin, and again after a 30-day interval (intraobserver reliability).
Results:
The meiboscores evaluated using the RFI, aRFI, and RCI were strongly positively correlated with those evaluated using the IMI (RFI: ρ = 0.788; aRFI: ρ = 0.735; RCI: ρ = 0.630; all P

Source: Cornea - April 2, 2019 Category: Opthalmology Tags: Clinical Science Source Type: research