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RecruitingNCT02118922Updated Oct 8, 2026

A Study to Test the Diagnostic Potential of Brillouin Microscopy for Corneal Ectasia

An observational study in Keratoconus, Ectasia and Crosslinking, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 75 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-08.

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jun 2013; still recruiting 13 years 5 months later.
Updated Oct 8, 2026Primary completion movedStudy completion movedGo to Updates ↓
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrollment
168
Ages
20 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

We have developed novel Brillouin microscopy and we are testing its potential for keratoconus and ectasia diagnostics. We plan to perform axial scans of the cornea in human volunteers in order to compare biomechanical properties of Keratoconus vs. Normal corneas and compare biomechanical properties of post-LASIK ectasia vs. normal corneas.

02

Conditions studied

  • Keratoconus
  • Ectasia
  • Crosslinking
  • Fuchs' Endothelial Dystrophy

Keywords

  • LASIK
03

In context

Keratoconus

313 studies on the registry are indexed under Keratoconus; 56 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 168 is above the median of 130 across 97 observational studies indexed under Keratoconus.

Browse Keratoconus studies →

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,586 studies on the registry; 447 are open to participants now.

Of its 222 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 168 (76%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

General population

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Group I includes healthy subjects with normal appearing corneas, normal topography and pachymetry. Group II includes patients diagnosed as having mild, moderate or advanced keratoconus by our ophthalmology expert on the basis of topography and pachymetry. Group III includes healthy subjects who have undergone LASIK surgery in the past 12 months without complications. Inclusion criteria include normal post-operative topography and pachymetry. Group IV includes patients (age 20 - 60) who have undergone LASIK surgery at least 12 months before the study imaging and have been diagnosed with post-LASIK ectasia based on topography, pachymetry and clinical evaluation.Patients diagnosed with keratoconus. Group V- Volunteers to receive PRK surgery This group includes patients who have been diagnosed with myopia and have been scheduled to undergo PRK surgery. Patients with high astigmatism > 2 diopter, prior ocular surgeries, and those patients taking any ocular medications except seasonal allergy medicine such as ketotifen or artificial tears will be excluded. Group VI-Volunteers to receive LASIK Surgery This group includes myopic patients who are scheduled to receive LASIK surgery. Patients with high astigmatism > 2 diopter, prior ocular surgeries, and those patients taking any ocular medications except seasonal allergy medicine such as ketotifen and artificial tears will be excluded. Group VII- Patients with Fuch's Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. This group includes subjects who are diagnosed with Fuch's corneal dystrophy, at early, mild and advanced stages. The inclusion also extends to subjects with, and without keratoconus. But this exclude patients with any other corneal disorders other than keratoconus, and/or history of ophthalmological surgeries that may affect endothelium cell status, e.g. cataract surgeries.

Overall Exclusion Criteria for all groups: Volunteers who

  • Have occludable narrow angles (without a patent peripheral iridotomy)
  • Monocular subjects
  • Do not or cannot understand the instructions for the imaging
05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrollment
168 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Healthy volunteers

    Volunteers with normal corneas

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • Patients with keratoconus

    Patients diagnosed with keratoconus

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • post-LASIK no complications

    Subjects who underwent LASIK refractive surgery with no complications

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • post-LASIK who developed ectasia

    patients who underwent LASIK refractive surgery and developed ectasia as a complications

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • Volunteers to receive PRK surgery

    This group includes patients who have been diagnosed with myopia and have been scheduled to undergo PRK surgery. Patients with high astigmatism \> 2 diopter, prior ocular surgeries, and those patients taking any ocular medications except seasonal allergy medicine such as ketotifen or artificial tears will be excluded.

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • Volunteers to receive LASIK Surgery

    This group includes myopic patients who are scheduled to receive LASIK surgery. Patients with high astigmatism \> 2 diopter, prior ocular surgeries, and those patients taking any ocular medications except seasonal allergy medicine such as ketotifen and artificial tears will be excluded.

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

  • Patients with Fuch's Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy

    This group includes subjects who are diagnosed with Fuch's corneal dystrophy, at early, mild and advanced stages. The inclusion also extends to subjects with, and without keratoconus. But this exclude patients with any other corneal disorders other than keratoconus, and/or history of ophthalmological surgeries that may affect endothelium cell status, e.g. cataract surgeries.

    Procedure: Brillouin imaging

Interventions

  • ProcedureBrillouin imaging
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Elastic Modulus of the Cornea

    Patients will be measured one time only at their imaging session

    Time frame: 2012-2022

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Scarcelli G, Kling S, Quijano E, Pineda R, Marcos S, Yun SH. Brillouin microscopy of collagen crosslinking: noncontact depth-dependent analysis of corneal elastic modulus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2013 Feb 19;54(2):1418-25. doi: 10.1167/iovs.12-11387. PubMed 23361513 ↗
  • Scarcelli G, Yun SH. In vivo Brillouin optical microscopy of the human eye. Opt Express. 2012 Apr 9;20(8):9197-202. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.009197. PubMed 22513631 ↗
  • Scarcelli G, Pineda R, Yun SH. Brillouin optical microscopy for corneal biomechanics. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012 Jan 20;53(1):185-90. doi: 10.1167/iovs.11-8281. PubMed 22159012 ↗
  • Scarcelli G, Yun SH. Confocal Brillouin microscopy for three-dimensional mechanical imaging. Nat Photonics. 2007 Dec 9;2:39-43. doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2007.250. PubMed 19812712 ↗

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Primary completion
Sep 2026→Sep 2030
Oct 8, 2026
Study completion
Sep 2026→Sep 2030
Oct 8, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 8, 2026
    Primary completion Sep 2026→Sep 2030
    Study completion Sep 2026→Sep 2030
    + 2 other changes: verification date and contact details

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02118922
Collaborators
Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)
Responsible party
Seok Hyun Yun (Associate Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 21, 2014
Start date
Jun 2013
Primary completion
Sep 2030 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 8, 2026

Study contacts

Fatima Clouser, MS
Contact
fclouser@mgh.harvard.edu
4077331679
Andy Yun, PhD
Contact
syun@partners.org
Andy Yun, PhD
principal investigator · Masachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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