gms | German Medical Science

Background: To evaluate usefulness of anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS OCT) in diagnosis and monitoring treatment results in different cases of eye injuries.

Methods: We examined 38 eyes of 34 patients with different types of ocular injuries: penetrating injury (8 eyes), perforating injury (2 eyes), intraocular foreign body (4 eyes), ocular burn (9 eyes), contusion (13 eyes) and lamellar laceration (2 eyes). The mean age of patients was 33,8. AS OCT examination was performed directly after injury and was repeated during further treatment pathway. We evaluated anterior chamber components and corneal pachymetry. When standard scans were unsufficient, spectral OCT high resolution (HR) mode had been used to establish the diagnosis.

Results: Slit-lamp examination did not reveal a clear diagnosis in 3 eyes after contusion because of a nontransparent cornea. In case of 44-year old male patient only the corneal edema was noticed during the slit-lamp examination, while AS OCT revealed the Descemet’s membrane detachment. In case of 17-year old male patient with corneal infiltration by blood, OCT revealed acute angle closure with pupillary block. In all patients with corneal burns, OCT was valuable in monitoring of corneal healing progress after amniotic membrane application. In qualification for corneal transplantation OCT helped us to decide whether lamellar or penetrating technique should be applied. In patients with foreign bodies we used OCT to establish localization and size of foreign bodies in the anterior segment. For some controversies HR spectral OCT was useful device to conform diagnosis.

Conclusions: In the ophthalmic departments dealing with ocular trauma AS OCT is a very valuable tool in early diagnosis and further monitoring.