The safety of anterior chamber paracentesis in patients with uveitis
- Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, City Hospital, Birmingham, UK
- Correspondence to: Professor P I Murray Academic Unit of Ophthalmology, Division of Immunity and Infection, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, City Hospital, Dudley Road, Birmingham B18 7QU; P.I.Murraybham.ac.uk
- Accepted 10 June 2003
Anterior chamber (AC) paracentesis is a valuable procedure in the management of uveitis, particularly in diagnosing infective causes.1,2 It may also be used therapeutically to lower intraocular pressure,3 and it provides samples for clinical research. Nevertheless, there have been isolated reports of AC paracentesis related serious complications, including endophthalmitis and corneal abscess.4,5 As the risk of trauma to the iris and lens are also major concerns, AC paracentesis is often used with reluctance. Although there are many studies on the analysis of aqueous humour obtained from AC paracentesis, our literature search showed only one publication on the safety of AC paracentesis.6
The purpose of this study was to describe a method of AC paracentesis that can be easily performed as an outpatient procedure with the patient sitting at the slit lamp.
Methods and results
A total of 70 patients (41 male, 29 female) aged 18–83 years (median 39 years) with various types of active uveitis attending the Birmingham and Midland Eye …
