AIM: To analyze quantitatively the biological characteristics of corneal endothelium in old patients of high myopia with non-contact automatic corneal endothelial microscope.

METHODS:A total of 189 old patients(197 eyes)were divided into the high myopia group and the normal control group according to refractive diopter, in which the former 98 cases(103 eyes), the latter 91 cases(94 eyes). The hexagonal cell(6A), the coefficient of variation(CV), the average cell area(AVE), the average cell density(CD)and the central corneal thickness(CCT)were measured by non-contact automatic corneal endothelium. SPSS 14.0 software was used to analyze their percentage. Z-test was used to compare the mean and Chi-square test was used to compare the rate in between.

RESULTS: The average cell density in high myopia patients decreased, but there were 14 eyes >3 000/mm², 11 eyes <2 000/mm² and 78 eyes in the 2 000～3 000/mm², there were each 0 eye, 3 eyes and 91 eyes respectively in the normal control group. There was statistically significant difference between high myopia group and control(χ²=19.11, P<0.05). Meanwhile the percentage of the hexagonal cell decreased, the coefficient of variation and the average cell area increased. There was statistically significant difference between high myopia group and control(P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the central corneal thickness between the two groups(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION: There will provide a reference valuable for clinical surgeon. Because according to the changes of parameters and morphology of the corneal endothelial cells, we can understand the repair ability, to predict the consequence of the treatment, in order to determine the design and the choice of a surgical.