Clinical Usefulness of Conjunctival Brush Cytology in the Diagnosis of Dry Eye Syndrome.

Moon, Hyung Jin; Park, Chang Su; Yoon, Kyung Chul

doi:2009.50.3.340

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > Volume 50(3); 2009 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2009;50(3):340-346.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2009.50.3.340 Published online March 15, 2009.

Clinical Usefulness of Conjunctival Brush Cytology in the Diagnosis of Dry Eye Syndrome.

Hyung Jin Moon, Chang Su Park, Kyung Chul Yoon

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, Gwangju, Korea. kcyoon@jnu.ac.kr
²Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.

건성안 환자의 진단에서 결막솔질검사의 유용성에 관한 연구

문형진¹ㆍ박창수²ㆍ윤경철¹

Department of Ophthalmology, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital¹, Gwangju, Korea / Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Medical School², Gwangju, Korea

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the clinical usefulness of conjunctival brush cytology (CBC) in the diagnosis of dry eye syndrome. METHODS: Conjunctival impression cytology (CIC) was performed on the right eye and CBC was performed on the left eye in 24 patients with dry eye syndrome (9 patients with Sjogren's syndrome (SS) and 15 patients with non-Sjogren syndrome (Non-SS)) and 7 control subjects. The grade of squamous metaplasia was analyzed and the correlation between the grade and tear surface parameters was evaluated. RESULTS: The squamous metaplasia grade score in CIC and CBC were 2.44+/-0.73 and 1.56+/-1.01 in SS patients (p=0.047), 1.53+/-0.74 and 0.80+/-0.78 in Non-SS patients (p=0.017), and 0.43+/-0.54 and 0.14+/-0.38 (p=0.250) in control subjects, respectively. In SS patients, the score correlated significantly with the symptom score, basal tear secretion, break-up time (BUT) and keratoepitheliopathy score in CBC (p<0.05), but did not correlate with the tear surface parameters in CIC. In Non-SS patients, the score correlated significantly with the symptom score, basal tear secretion, BUT and keratoepitheliopathy score in CBC, and with the keratoepitheliopathy score in CIC (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: CBC is a more useful method than CIC in the diagnosis of dry eye syndrome.

Key Words: Conjunctival brush cytology;Conjunctival impression cytology;Dry eye syndrome;Tear surface parameter