Purpose Evaluate the value of anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) for diagnosis and monitoring treatment results in corneal injury cases.
Methods   We examined 91 eyes of 85 patients with different types of corneal injuries: penetrating injury (56 eyes), contusion (18 eyes), foreign body (10 eyes), and chemical burn (7 eyes). AS-OCT examination was performed at the initial visit, directly after injury, and repeated as treatment progressed. In some cases, corneal pachymetry was evaluated.
Results  In penetrating eyes, AS-OCT clearly demonstrated the microstructure of the corneal wound after primary repair and revealed 8 cases of incorrect closure of the corneal wound, which were not be detected by slit-lamp examination due to the presence of corneal oedema. In three cases of contusion in post-LASIK eyes, only corneal interface hyper reflection was noticed during slit-lamp
examination, whereas AS-OCT revealed interface fluid. AS-OCT was helpful in establishing the localization and size of the transparent/translucent foreign bodies in cornea, while was useless for dense metallic foreign bodies. In patients with acute corneal chemical burns, AS-OCT was valuable for monitoring resolution of the corneal oedema after treatment. AS-OCT was also useful in assessment of the anterior chamber even in presence of corneal opacification after chemical burn.
Conclusions AS-OCT can clearly demonstrate the structure of cornea after injuries. It is very useful in dealing with corneal injuries, for early diagnosis and for monitoring treatment progress.