Corneal viscoelastic properties from finite-element analysis of in vivo air-puff deformation

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 14;9(8):e104904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104904. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Biomechanical properties are an excellent health marker of biological tissues, however they are challenging to be measured in-vivo. Non-invasive approaches to assess tissue biomechanics have been suggested, but there is a clear need for more accurate techniques for diagnosis, surgical guidance and treatment evaluation. Recently air-puff systems have been developed to study the dynamic tissue response, nevertheless the experimental geometrical observations lack from an analysis that addresses specifically the inherent dynamic properties. In this study a viscoelastic finite element model was built that predicts the experimental corneal deformation response to an air-puff for different conditions. A sensitivity analysis reveals significant contributions to corneal deformation of intraocular pressure and corneal thickness, besides corneal biomechanical properties. The results show the capability of dynamic imaging to reveal inherent biomechanical properties in vivo. Estimates of corneal biomechanical parameters will contribute to the basic understanding of corneal structure, shape and integrity and increase the predictability of corneal surgery.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Cornea / physiology*
  • Elasticity
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Viscosity

Grants and funding

Spanish Government FIS2011-25637, European Research Council ERC-2011 AdG-294099 to SM. FPI-BES-2009-024560 Pre-doctoral Fellowship to SK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.