Ocular disorders in renal transplant patients in Ethiopia.

Abstract Abstract Background : Renal transplantation has become a very successful and routine procedure of all organ transplant procedures. Visual loss is a rare but potentially devastating ocular complication of organ transplantation. Postoperative therapy with immunosuppressant, steroids and the cause of the end stage renal disease were said to be associated with the development of eye disorders like cataract, high intraocular pressure ,ocular surface disorders, opportunistic infections and neurotoxic conditions. Nowadays, Post transplant patients have better survival rates and enjoy improved quality of life so one should look for complications on time and solve them accordingly. The objective of this study is to determine ocular problems in renal transplant recipients in Ethiopian patients. Methods: It is a across sectional study done at Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College(SPHMMC) from October 2017 to December 2018. All post renal transplant patients who were having follow up at renal transplant unit were taken for the study. Descriptive analysis was done to determine means, frequencies and proportions of the various variables. Result : There were a total of 135 renal transplant subjects including 95(70.4%) male and 40(29.6 %) female . The mean age of all the study subjects were 34.4+ 12.1(Range 10 - 69) years. The cause of renal diseases is not known in majority of the study subjects 112(83%).More than 95% of all the study subjects were on multiple immunosuppressant therapy. Of all the individuals examined 128(94.8%) of them have one or more eye problems. The most prevalent ocular abnormality detected were dry eye 76(59.4%), optic neuropathies 10 (7.9%),Cataract 8(6.2%) and retinal pigment abnormality 9(7%). There were no significant sight threatening complications observed in relation to the immunosuppressive therapy or the diseases itself. Conclusions : Dry eye is the most commonest eye problem identified among renal transplant patients which is not related to the prolonged use of immunosuppressives or the end stage renal disease. Key words: Renal transplant, immunosuppressive, ocular complication, end stage renal disease.