Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 105, Issue 7, 1 July 1998, Pages 1307-1310
Ophthalmology

Success rates of nasolacrimal duct probing at time intervals after 1 year of age1Historical image

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0161-6420(98)97038-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

The purpose of the study was to determine the success rate of probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction after 1 year of age.

Design

A record review.

Participants and intervention

Two hundred fifty-two patients with 303 obstructed nasolacrimal ducts underwent probing and irrigation by the author between 1971 and 1997 while under brief general anesthesia.

Main outcome measures

Successful outcome of probing was defined as absence of tearing and discharge in the affected eye.

Results

The overall cure rate in all patients was 92%, varying from 88.9% to 96.8% at different age intervals up to and beyond 3 years of age. Chi-square analysis showed no significant change in cure rate with increasing age.

Conclusion

Probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction beyond 1 year of age is highly successful, and the cure rate does not vary significantly at intervals of increasing age.

Section snippets

Patients and methods

Three hundred twenty-nine patients with obstruction of the lacrimal drainage system were identified. Fifty-three patients were excluded from consideration in this study because they were seen and treated before 1 year of age for various reasons. Also excluded were 11 patients who had canalicular obstructions, a dacryocystocele, or complicating anatomic abnormalities, such as frontonasal dysplasia, encephalocele, or tumor. Eight patients were eliminated because no obstruction was found when a

Results

The results of probing are presented in Table 1. Individual ducts of bilateral cases are considered independently, because they did not always respond to probing in the same way. Patients are arranged into five groups by age at the time of probing: those probed (1) from 12 through 14 months of age, (2) from 15 through 17 months, (3) from 18 through 23 months, (4) from 24 through 35 months, and (5) after 36 months of age. In group 5, the age range was from 3.0 to 9.3 years with a mean of 4.4 and

Discussion

Probing for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction is a highly successful procedure. It appears to remain successful up to 4 or 5 years of age if, for whatever reason, a patient has not been treated earlier. The fact that there are probing failures at all ages considered in this study suggests that the nature of the obstruction varies from patient to patient, and some obstructions are resistant to simple probing at any age. There is nothing in the data presented to suggest that for a given

References (7)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

1

The author has no proprietary interest in the instruments or techniques described in this study.

View full text