Purpose: New instrument-based techniques for anterior chamber (AC) cell counting can offer automation and objectivity above clinician assessment. This review aims to identify such instruments and its correlation with clinician estimates.
Methods: Using standard systematic review methodology, we identified and tabulated the outcomes of studies reporting reliability and correlation between instrument-based measurements and clinician AC cell grading.
Results: From 3470 studies, 6 reported correlation between an instrument-based AC cell count to clinician grading. The two instruments were optical coherence tomography (OCT) and laser flare-cell photometry (LFCP). Correlation between clinician grading and LFCP was 0.66-0.87 and 0.06-0.97 between clinician grading and OCT. OCT volume scans demonstrated correlation between 0.75 and 0.78. Line scans in the middle AC demonstrated higher correlation (0.73-0.97) than in the inferior AC (0.06-0.56).
Conclusion: AC cell count by OCT and LFP can achieve high levels of correlation with clinician grading, whilst offering additional advantages of speed, automation, and objectivity.
Keywords: Anterior chamber cells; aqueous humor; aqueous humour; diagnostic test; laser flare-cell photometry; optical coherence tomography; systematic review; uveitis.