ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT IN PRESUMED OCULAR TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS WITH GRANULOMATOSIS OCULAR PATHOLOGIES: SINGLE CENTER EXPERIENCE FROM TURKIYE

Objective: Ocular tuberculosis is still considered to be a controversial issue in terms of both terminology and diagnostic criteria and treatment options. There is no common diagnostic/treatment algorithm even though new approaches exist.In this study, the results of the treatment of "presumed ocular tuberculosis patients" are evaluated. Materials and Methods: Anti-tuberculosis treatment was given to cases who had latent tuberculosis infection, had no other diagnosis and who did not respond to steroid treatment. These cases were considered to have presumed ocular tuberculosis. Results: Sixty four cases who were considered to have "presumed ocular tuberculosis" received anti-tuberculosis treatment for a minimum of three months and were followed up regularly. The 64 cases were made up of 32 women and 32 men, with a mean age of 42.1 +/- 12.09 years. Mean antituberculosis treatment duration was 8.18 +/- 2.17 months (3-15 month). After the treatment, 47 (73.4%) of 64 patients reported improvement in vision. Only 36 of these 64 cases (31 bilateral, 5 unilateral, 67 eyes in total) were evaluated with objective vision test before and after the treatment. Disease involvement was uveitis (anterior, intermediate, posterior, panuveitis) in 61 eyes (91%), and retinal vasculitis in 6 eyes (9%). According to the vision analysis among 67 eyes, 42 (62.7%), visual acuities were detected to be improved at variable levels. Mean right eye visual acuity was 0.56 +/- 0.049 before treatment, and 0.71 +/- 0.047 after treatment (p<0.001). Mean left eye visual acuity was 0.60 +/- 0.51 before treatment, and 0.73 +/- 0.043 after treatment (p<0.004). Conclusion: In the presence of latent tuberculosis infection, successful results can be obtained with antituberculosis treatment for cases diagnosed as presumed ocular tuberculosis.