Comparison of corneal aberrations from anterior segment swept source OCT versus Placido-topography combined spectral domain OCT in cataract patients

BACKGROUND: To comprehensively evaluate the agreement of component corneal aberrations from the newly updated wavefront analysis software of a swept-source optical coherence tomographer (SS-OCT) and a referential Placido-topography combined OCT device in elderly cataract patients. METHODS: Retrospective study including 103 eyes from 103 elderly patients scheduled for cataract surgery that were measured on the same day with a SS-OCT (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) device and a Placido-topography combined OCT device (CSO, Italy). Anterior, total, and posterior corneal wavefront aberrations were evaluated for their mean differences and limits of agreement (LoA) via Bland-Altman plots. Vector analysis was additionally employed to compare corneal astigmatism measurements in dioptric vector space. RESULTS: Mean differences of all corneal aberrometric parameters did not exceed 0.05 μm. Total corneal aberrations were not significantly different from 0 except for vertical coma (− 0.04 μm; P = 0.003), spherical aberration (− 0.01 μm, P < 0.001), and root mean square (RMS) higher-order aberration (HOA) (0.03 μm, P = 0.04). The 95% LoA for total corneal aberration parameters between both devices were − 0.46 to 0.42 μm for horizontal astigmatism, − 0.37 to 0.41 μm for oblique astigmatism, − 0.19 to 0.17 μm for oblique trefoil, − 0.33 to 0.25 μm for vertical coma, − 0.20 to 0.22 μm for horizontal coma, − 0.22 to 0.20 μm for horizontal trefoil, − 0.11 to 0.08 μm for spherical aberration, and − 0.22 to 0.28 μm for RMS HOA. Vector analysis revealed no statistically significant mean differences for anterior, total, and posterior corneal astigmatism in dioptric vector space. CONCLUSION: In eyes undergoing cataract surgery with a regular elderly cornea, corneal wavefront analysis from the SS-OCT device showed functional equivalency to the reference device. Nevertheless, clinically relevant higher order aberration parameters should be interpreted with caution for surgical decision-making.