Clinical Efficacy of Laser Flare-Cell Meter

ABSTRACT

Aqueous flare, the scattering of light by the Tyndall phenomenon, have been applied for the assessment of aqueous protein by the ophthalmologists. Since the intensity of flare ultimately reflects the severity of ocular inflammation. Laser flare-cell meter was developed to determine protein concentration and number of cells in the aqueous with non-invasive technique. The principle of evaluation was similar to that of slit-lamp examination in the viewpoint of scattering of light. The significant linear correlation was observed between the values of concentration for protein and photon counts, in the range from 5mg/100ml to 2,500ml/100ml in boine serum albumin (BSA) and from 5mg/100ml to 1,000mg/100ml in human gamma globulin (HGG), the valuses of HGG was three times higher than those of BSA in the same concentration. In experiments for WBC, RBC and latex particles with diameter of 2.95 micrometer, although somewhat differences was observed according to the sort of cells, significant linear correlation was shown between the number of detected peaks and that of cells.