Characteristics of the Ciliary Body in Healthy Chinese Subjects Evaluated by Radial and Transverse Imaging of Ultrasound Biometric Microscopy

Abstract

Background: The imaging and analysis of the ciliary body (CB) are valuable in many potential clinical applications. This study aims to demonstrate the anatomy characteristics of CB using radial and transverse imaging of ultrasound biometric microscopy (UBM) in healthy Chinese subjects, and to explore the determining factors. Methods: Fifty-four eyes of 30 healthy Chinese subjects were evaluated. Clinical data, including age, body mass index (BMI), intraocular pressure (IOP), axial length (AL), and lens thickness (LT), were collected. Radial and transverse UBM measurements of the ciliary body were performed. Anterior chamber depth (ACD), ciliary sulcus diameter (CSD), ciliary process length (CPL), ciliary process density (CPD), ciliary process area (CPA), ciliary muscle area (CMA), ciliary body area (CBA), ciliary body thickness (CBT0, CBT1, and CBTmax), anterior placement of ciliary body (APCB), and trabecular-ciliary angle (TCA) of four (superior, nasal, inferior, and temporal) quadrants were measured. Results: The average CPL was 0.513 ± 0.074 mm, and the average CPA was 0.890 ± 0.141 mm2. CPL and CPA tended to be longer and larger in the superior quadrant (p < 0.001) than in the other three quadrants. Average CPL was significantly correlated with AL (r = 0.535, p < 0.001), ACD (r = 0.511, p < 0.001), and LT (r = −0.512, p < 0.001). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) scores were high for CPL (0.979), CPD (0.992), CPA (0.966), CMA (0.963), and CBA (0.951). Conclusions: In healthy Chinese subjects, CPL was greatest in the superior quadrant, followed by the inferior, temporal, and nasal quadrants, and CPA was largest in the superior quadrant, followed by the tempdoral, inferior, and nasal quadrants. Transverse UBM images can be used to measure the anatomy of the ciliary process with relatively good repeatability and reliability.

Risk factors associated with haptic malposition in eyes implanted with implantable collamer lenses

“…12 The average CBTmax in our cohort (1.37 ± 0.11 mm) surpassed previously documented findings (1.25 ± 0.17 mm), possibly attributed to the predominantly young and highly myopic demographic in our study. 13,14 CPlength measures the length of ciliary process. 15 A longer ciliary process is usually accompanied by a thicker ciliary body and has been ascertained to be a risk factor for the excessive ICL vault.…”

“… 12 The average CBTmax in our cohort (1.37 ± 0.11 mm) surpassed previously documented findings (1.25 ± 0.17 mm), possibly attributed to the predominantly young and highly myopic demographic in our study. 13 , 14 …”

Evaluation of ciliary body morphology and position of the implantable collamer lens in low-vault eyes using ultrasound biomicroscopy

“…Of interest, a recent study conducted in healthy Chinese participants showed that the mean CPL was positively correlated with AL and negatively correlated with LT, which supported our findings of shorter AL and thicker LT in the insufficient vault group. 24 The space between the posterior surface of the iris and the anterior surface of the ciliary process has recently been proposed as a factor that may influence the vault. Wei et al used iris thickness to define the width of the ciliary sulcus and suggested that a larger ICL should be selected in eyes with a wide ciliary sulcus.…”

“…Of interest, a recent study conducted in healthy Chinese participants showed that the mean CPL was positively correlated with AL and negatively correlated with LT, which supported our findings of shorter AL and thicker LT in the insufficient vault group. 24…”

Editorial: Imaging in Ophthalmology

“…Over the last decade, ophthalmology has significantly benefited from advances in vivo non-invasive ophthalmic imaging techniques that play currently a fundamental role in the clinical assessment, diagnosis, management, and monitoring of a wide variety of conditions involving both the anterior and posterior segment [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Imaging technologies, including anterior and posterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography, wide-field retinal imaging, specular and confocal microscopy, corneal topography, and ocular ultrasound, have dramatically improved the morphological and functional evaluation of ocular structures, both in healthy and pathological eyes [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”