Open Globe Injuries: Classifications and Prognostic Factors for Functional Outcome

Abstract BACKGROUND: Epidemiology and evaluation of posterior segment involvement as a prognostic factor for functional outcome of patients with open globe injuries in a university eye clinic as a tertiary referral center in Southern Germany. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 151 consecutive patients with open globe injuries who were referred to the department of Ophthalmology of the Technical University of Munich in Germany from 2004 to 2011 was conducted. Visual acuity, epidemiologic data, classification of the injuries including the ocular trauma score (OTS), performed surgeries, post-operative visual acuity and intraocular pressure (IOP) as well as correlation analyses between OTS and post-operative visual acuity were obtained. RESULTS: On total, 147 eyes were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 42.9±22.2 years, 78.2% were male, 36.7% of injuries occurred in the workplace. Thirty-eight patients (25.9%) had intraocular foreign bodies (IOFB): 84.2% were metal objects, 5.3% organic material and 10.5% glass. On total, 51.7% of the open globe injuries were located in zone I (cornea, cornealscleral limbus), 15.0% in zone II (up to 5 mm posterior the sclerocorneal limbus) and 32.0% in zone III (posterior of zone 2). Affected structures were eyelids (17.7%), cornea (74.8%), iris (63.9%), lens (56.5%), sclera (48.3%), retina (47.6%) and optic nerve (19.7%). Mean preoperative BCVA was 1.304±0.794 logMAR and 1.289±0.729 logMAR after surgery (p=0.780). Patients with involvement of their posterior segment had significantly worse postoperative BCVA scores than patients without (1.523±0.654 logMAR vs. 0.944±0.708 logMAR, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Predictive factors for good visual outcome of open globe injuries are good initial visual acuity and ocular trauma affecting only zone I and II.