CLINICAL PROFILE OF PATIENTS OF PANOPHTHALMITIS PRESENTING TO THE TERTIARY HEALTH CARE CENTRE

Purpose -To study the clinical profile of patients of panophthalmitis presenting to the tertiary health care centre. Methods-This was a prospective observational study that involved25 patients with panophthalmitis complaining of blurring of vision, redness, pain, purulent discharge, photophobia and eyelid swelling. Results-There were 18 males and 7 females and the age group taken was 30 to 75 years.14 patients belonged to the age group of 30 to 45 years, out of which 10 were males and 4 were females. 7 patients belonged to age group of 46 to 60 years, out of which 5 were males and 2 were females. 4 patients belonged to the age group of 61 to 75 years, out of which 3 were males and 1 was female. Most common presentation in panophthalmitis patients is loss of vision in 88% patients followed by redness in 76% patients, pain in 72% patients, purulent discharge in 68% patients,photophobia in 55% patients and eyelid swelling in 48% patients. Majority of patients belong to low socioeconomic class. The most common cause was post traumatic followed by post operative and some endogenous infections spread through hematogenous route. Of the 25 cases of culture-positive panophthalmitis, 18 cases (75%) had bacterial growth and 7 cases (25%) had fungal growth. In post-traumaticpanophthalmitis, Gram-positive bacteria were the predominant species, followed by Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. In endogenous panophthalmitis, Gram-negative bacteria were the predominant species, followed by fungi and Gram-positive bacteria. In postsurgical panophthalmitis, all infections were bacterial. Conclusion-Panophthalmitis is a dreaded ocular disease and tends to occur more commonly in males of 30 to 45 years agegroup. Most common presentation of panophthalmitis is loss of vision followed by redness, pain, purulent discharge, photophobia and eyelid swelling and signs include eyelid edema, hypopyon, circumcilliary congestion, corneal haze and ulcer and vitreous haze. Most common cause of panophthalmitis was post traumatic with gram positive bacteria followed by endogenous causes with gram negative bacteria and post operative cases with gram positive bacteria isolated.