Clinicopathologic Correlation of 342 Surgical Eye Specimens: Comparison of 17 Consecutive Years (1999-2015)

Purpose: Enucleation is a surgical standard procedure for many ocular diseases when medical therapy is not helpful. The indication for enucleation varies among the centers depending on medical equipment and ophthalmologists’ experience. Few studies have been performed regarding etiologies of enucleation surgeries. In this study we aimed to assess clinicopathologic correlation of surgical eye specimens and changing trends of enucleation operations.

Methods: Medical records of patients underwent eye surgeries referred to pathology department of a tertiary hospital, Tehran, Iran during 1999 to 2015 was collected. For better comparison, first time period (1999-2006) and second time period (2007-2015) were defined. Type of surgery, causes of enucleation and histopathological diagnosis were reviewed.

Results: A total of 342 surgical eye specimens were sent to pathology department over the time period. Ocular tumors were the most common indication for enucleation with retinoblastoma and melanoma constituting the majority of them. An interesting change in trend was observed between two time periods. The number of enucleated eyes due to trauma were declined during second time period whereas the percentage of ocular tumor was not significantly changed. In evaluating clinicopathologic findings, 19 discordant cases were found which most of them were mimickers of malignancy.

Conclusion: The indication of enucleation surgery varies among the centers. Although majority of enucleated cases were due to tumors, some non-tumoral conditions may mimic tumoral conditions which should be always in differential diagnosis.