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Abstract
Purpose
A comparison analysis of the clinical characteristics and treatment results of congenital NLD obstruction.
Methods
The present study involved 216 pediatric patients (258 eyes) diagnosed with and treated for congenital NLD obstruction. Treatment was applied step by step starting with conservative massaging, lacrimal probing, and silicone tube intubation.
Results
The treatment results of congenital NLD obstruction in pediatric patients under 12 months of age showed an 87.3% success rate after an average of 4.3 months of treatment in the group using lacrimal sac massage and antibiotic eye drops (conservative treatment). The group treated by correct massaging techniques showed a 93.6% success rate after an average of 3.8 months of treatment. The success rate of lacrimal probing, applied to patients not showing improvement after massage therapy was 77.8%. Pediatric patients not showing improvement after lacrimal probing underwent silicone tube intubation. All patients showed improvement except in 1 case that had an early silicone tube dislocation.
Discussion
A step-by-step approach is effective in treating congenital NLD obstruction patients, and correct lacrimal massage techniques improve the success rate during conservative therapy. The period of conservative treatment and number of probing times did not have a statistically significant correlation with the success rate of lacrimal silicone tube intubation. Silicone tube intubation showed a high success rate in patients sustaining the silicone tube for a minimum of 2.1 months.
References
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Table 1.
General chracteristics of patients
| Subject | No. of patients (%) |
|---|---|
| Sex | |
| male | 144 (55.8) |
| female | 114 (44.2) |
| Age (months) | 3–52 (mean: 10.2) |
| ≤ 6 months | 103 eyes |
| 7 months – 12 months | 98 eyes |
| ≥ 13 months | 57 eyes |
Table 2.
Results of conservative therapy group in congenital NLD* obstruction
| | Appropriate treatment group | Inappropriate treatment group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤6 months | >6 months | Total | ≤6 months | >6 months | Total | |
| Success rate (%) | 95.8 | 92.5 | 94.3† | 85.0 | 73.2 | 79.0† |
| | (46/48) | (37/40) | | (34/40) | (30/41) | |
| Period of treatment (months) | 3.4 | 4.2 | 3.8† | 5.2 | 6.2 | 5.7† |
Table 3.
Results of nasolacrimal probing group in congenital NLD* obstruction
| | ≤ 6 months | > 6 months,< 12 months | > 12 months | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Success rate (%) | 95. 6†(22/23) | 87.1†(27/31) | 78.9(45/57) | 84.6 |
| Period of previous treatment (months) | 3.2 | 5.8 | 7.8 | 6.3 |
| Number of probing | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
Table 4.
Results of nasolacrimal silicone tube intubation group in congenital NLD* obstruction
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