PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - A P Ferry
AU  - R L Font
AU  - R S Weinberg
AU  - M Boniuk
AU  - C L Schaffer
TI  - Nocardial endophthalmitis: report of two cases studied histopathologically.
AID  - 10.1136/bjo.72.1.55
DP  - 1988 Jan 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 55--61
VI  - 72
IP  - 1
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/72/1/55.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/72/1/55.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol1988 Jan 01; 72
AB  - We report two cases of nocardial endophthalmitis. Case 1 is a 66-year-old man whose left eye was enucleated about one month after onset of decreased vision. Ophthalmoscopic examination disclosed multiple choroidal masses. Six weeks before the onset of ocular manifestations he had undergone a prolonged carotid endarterectomy with intraoperative complications. The source of the ocular infection was probably exogenous. Case 2 is a 49-year-old woman who had systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) with severe pulmonary insufficiency. She had received moderate doses of corticosteroids. Seventeen months after initiation of therapy she developed ocular manifestations leading to enucleation of the eye one month later. Histopathologically, the enucleated eyes in both cases showed numerous branching, Gram-positive, filamentous organisms involving mainly the plane of Bruch's membrane and the subretinal space. The nosological and microbiological aspects of nocardiosis are reviewed.