Development and Evaluation of an Intelligent Diagnosis System for Dry Eye Disease Based on Confocal Microscopy

May 26, 2026 updated by: Dan Chen, Capital Medical University
Dry eye disease is a major ophthalmic health issue that severely affects the visual function and quality of life of the national population. Its core pathological mechanism involves a vicious cycle of ocular surface inflammation and neural abnormalities; however, clinical practice still lacks an objective and quantitative gold standard for diagnosis. Although in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) enables cellular-level, in vivo observation of the ocular surface, image analysis remains heavily dependent on manual interpretation, highlighting an urgent need for an intelligent quantitative framework.This project aims to construct a high-quality, standardized ocular surface imaging database and develop a high-precision deep learning algorithm to achieve accurate segmentation and quantification of corneal nerves (including both whorl-like and linear patterns) and inflammatory cells, and to validate their associations with clinical indicators of dry eye disease. The ultimate goal is to develop and evaluate an IVCM-based multimodal intelligent diagnostic system for dry eye, transforming IVCM from an observational tool into an intelligent decision-support system, with real-world performance validated through an independent prospective cohort.This project is expected to establish a multimodal AI diagnostic model for dry eye, create a standardized computational framework for imaging biomarkers, and enable a paradigm shift from qualitative description to quantitative diagnosis. The findings will provide reliable decision-making support for precision subtyping and personalized treatment of dry eye disease, advancing ophthalmic practice toward a data-driven, intelligent paradigm.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
75

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

This study intends to include patients with dry eye and healthy controls as the research subjects.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Normal group:

  1. Healthy adults aged 18 to 60;
  2. OSDI score of ocular surface disease Index <13 points;
  3. Good tear film stability (tear film break-up time TBUT≥10 seconds) and negative corneal fluorescein staining;

Dry eye Group:

  1. Healthy adults aged 18 to 60;
  2. Tear film break-up time ≤5 seconds or SchirmerⅠ≤5mm/5min without surface anesthesia, with one of the subjective symptoms such as dryness, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, fatigue, discomfort, or vision fluctuation in the eyes;
  3. 5 <Tear film break-up time ≤10 seconds or 5mm/5 min/less under no surface anesthesia; When SchirmerⅠ is ≤10 mm/5min, there is one of the subjective symptoms in the eyes, such as dryness, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, fatigue, discomfort, and vision fluctuation. At the same time, the fluorescein staining of the cornea and conjunctiva is positive.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Combined with systemic diseases or neurological diseases that may affect corneal nerve function;
  2. Having used any local anti-inflammatory drugs for the eyes within 2 weeks before enrollment or having a history of wearing contact lenses within 3 months;
  3. Other eye diseases besides dry eye and history of eye surgery;

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
control group
dry eye group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
in vivo confocal microscopy examination
Time Frame: Baseline
Images of the central corneal area and the inferior thread area of the patients were collected using in vivo confocal microscopy. During the examination, the patient's lower jaw is placed on the bracket, the forehead is tightly against the frontal support, and the patient is fixated on the target. A corneal contact probe is used. After applying Carbomer gel, it touches the corneal surface and scans layer by layer to obtain images of each layer of the cornea. The clear images of the linear nerves in the central area of the cornea and the vortex-like nerves in the lower vortex-like area were mainly collected for the subsequent intelligent analysis system to extract the morphological parameters of the corneal nerves and the parameters of inflammatory cells.
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Capital Medical University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 13, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 26, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 26, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • TREC2026-KY070

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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