Patient experience and repeatability of measurements made with the Pentacam HR in patients with keratoconus

BACKGROUND: To investigate whether the repeatability of measurements with the Pentacam HR in patients with keratoconus is improved by patients gaining more experience of the measurement situation. Such an improvement could enhance the accuracy with which progressive keratoconus can be detected. METHODS: Four replicate measurements were performed on Day 0 and on Day 3. Parameters commonly used in the diagnosis of progressive keratoconus were included in the analysis, namely the flattest central keratometry value (K1), the steepest central keratometry value (K2), the maximum keratometry value (Kmax), and the parameters A, B and C from the Belin ABCD Progression Display. In addition, quality parameters used by the Pentacam HR to assess the quality of the measurements were included, namely the analysed area (front + back), 3D (front + back), XY, Z, and eye movements. RESULTS: Neither the diagnostic parameters nor the quality parameters showed any statistically significant improvement on Day 3 compared to Day 0. The quality parameter “eye movements” deteriorated significantly with increasing Kmax. CONCLUSION: Gaining experience of the measurement situation did not increase the accuracy of the measurements. Further investigations should be performed to determine whether the increasing number of eye movements with increasing disease severity has a negative effect on the repeatability of the measurements. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-023-02930-4.