Clinical Profile, Treatment, and Visual Outcome of Ocular Toxocara in a Tertiary Eye Care Centre

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To determine the clinical features, treatment, and visual outcome in ocular toxocariasis.

Methods: A total of 16 cases diagnosed as ocular toxocariasis clinically and/or serologically were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 22.6 years. Cases were categorized into three clinical types with peripheral granuloma (43.7%) as the most common presentation. Of the patients, 10 (62.5%) had positive serum ELISA for T. canis; five (31.2%) received combination treatment with anthelmintic and corticosteroid, and eight (50%) patients had vitreous surgery. The visual outcome in eyes which underwent surgery was better, however the difference in medically and surgically treated groups was insignificant (p = 0.11). There was also no difference in visual outcome among the three clinical groups (p = 0.20).

Conclusions: Ocular toxocariasis has a varied presentation spectrum. Serum ELISA for T. canis aids in diagnosis. The difference in visual outcome among clinical and treatment groups was insignificant. However, in general, ocular toxocariasis resulted in a poor visual outcome.

Keywords:

• Granuloma
• helminthic zoonosis
• nematode endophthalmitis
• ocular toxocara
• serum ELISA T. canis

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.