The ‘barcode sign’ seen on optical coherence tomography of extensive corneal vascularization

El Zawahry, Farida Omar; Beer, Frederick; Yildiz, Burcin Kepez; Said, Dalia Galal; Dua, Harminder Singh

Abstract

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is used extensively in imaging the cornea in health and disease. OCT delineates interfaces of differing refractive indices, which often but not always correspond to histological features of the tissue. Interpretation of images in the context of histology can be difficult. Some tissues or substances, like cyanoacrylate glue on the cornea, obstruct the passage of light and cast shadows (AlMaazmi et al., 2019) obscuring all features deeper to the obstruction.
We report a clinical sign, seen on corneal OCT images, which is consistently present in relation to corneal vascularization. 5 patients with extensive corneal vascularization secondary to infectious keratitis (2), limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) (2) and interstitial keratitis (1) were examined clinically by slit lamp examination and by OCT as part of their routine assessment. The infectious keratitis cases and the interstitial keratitis case were in the healing stage after intensive antibiotic and topical steroid treatment respectively. The LSCD case was two years post chemical injury.

• Journal Article Type: Commentary
• Acceptance Date: May 22, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 31, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-12
• Deposit Date: Jul 22, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 1, 2024
• Print ISSN: 0950-222X
• Electronic ISSN: 1476-5454
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Pages: 3863-3864
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02602-z
• Keywords: Ophthalmology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23269189
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41433-023-02602-z