Ocular findings and ocular graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation without total body irradiation

Bone Marrow Transplant. 2018 Jul;53(7):863-872. doi: 10.1038/s41409-018-0090-z. Epub 2018 Jan 30.

Abstract

Patients treated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) often develop ocular complications. To investigate the ocular findings in young long-term survivors after allo-SCT without TBI, we examined 96 patients more than 5 years after transplantation. All patients were under 30 years of age at transplantation. The mean follow-up time was 16.8 years (range 6.0-26.1 years). The study was a part of the Norwegian Allo Survivorship Study investigating health impairments in young survivors after allo-SCT. Ophthalmological examination included visual acuity, tear break-up time, corneal fluorescein staining, Schirmer I test, tear film osmolarity, biomicroscopy and dilated ophthalmoscopy. In patients with known systemic chronic GVHD (cGVHD), ocular GVHD (oGVHD) diagnosed by clinical examination was compared with diagnosis using National Institutes of Health (NIH) or International Chronic Ocular Graft-vs-Host-Disease (ICCGVHD) Consensus Group criteria. We diagnosed dry eye disease (DED) in 52 patients (54%), cataract in 3 patients (3%) and retinopathy in 1 patient (1%). Systemic cGVHD was a risk factor for DED (OR 4.40, CI 1.33-14.56, p = 0.02). Comparison of diagnostic criteria suggests that the more stringent ICCGVHD criteria can better differentiate DED from oGVHD after allo-SCT as compared with the NIH criteria.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Child
  • Dry Eye Syndromes / etiology*
  • Dry Eye Syndromes / pathology
  • Female
  • Graft vs Host Disease / etiology*
  • Graft vs Host Disease / pathology
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Transplantation Conditioning / adverse effects*
  • Transplantation, Homologous / adverse effects*
  • Young Adult