Samarth Mishra1, Jayashree Dora2, Sharmistha Behera3, Bidisha Mahapatra4
AIM
Ocular injuries are common in all age groups, be it from blunt trauma like cricket ball, bat, etc or penetrating injury from pen, pencil or stick with cataract being the most common complication. Other complications like corneal perforation with or without iris prolapse, total hyphema, lens subluxation with or without posterior capsular rupture, iridodialysis, uveitis, vitreous haemorrhage, retinal detachment, etc. may occur. The aim of the study was to find out the various causes of traumatic cataract and associated socio-demographic profile in western Odisha, in a single tertiary care centre.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Retrospective study was conducted on 76 patients who had traumatic cataract and were admitted to VSS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla, Odisha from March 2014 to March 2016, a total period of 2 years. Data related to the type of injury, duration of presentation, age, sex, occupation and initial visual acuity were taken. B-scans were done for all cases. X-ray and CT scans were done wherever required.
RESULTS
Traumatic injuries were most common in children and young adults. 27 cases (35.52%) were children in age group less than 10 years. The incidences decreased with increase in age and were less frequent in the elderly. The most common form of injury was penetrating injury with stick injury as the cause in 19 cases (25%), followed by pen (19.73%) and pencil (14.47%). Males were injured more frequently (63.15%) than females (36.84%). 59 patients presented within 24 hours of injury which comprised 77.63% in total. Though most had poor visual acuity at initial presentation, postoperative prognosis was found to be good in general, if not associated with any other complications.
CONCLUSION
Since traumatic cataract is common in childhood, parents should be vigilant and should prohibit the use of sharp instruments in children. Occupational workers should use protective eye gears to avoid untoward incident. Though traumatic cataract is the most common complication of blunt or penetrating trauma, it has a rather good prognosis in terms of surgical and visual outcome.
