Clinicopathological Correlation in Dry Eye Disease

Introduction: To establish the strength of the association between routine tear function tests and conjunctival impression cytology (CIC) and to determine whether they simulate the morphological and cytological changes that occur on the ocular surface in dry eye.

Materials and Methods: Fifty six patients (30 cases and 26 controls) were included in the study. The tear film profile included tear film break up time (TBUT), Schirmer’s-1, Rose Bengal scores (RBS), and impression cytology. CIC samples were obtained from the infero-temporal quadrant of bulbar conjunctiva and stained with Papanicolaou stain (PAP) and Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) stains.

Results: In our study, among clinical tests RBS (86.7%) had maximum sensitivity and highest percentage of specificity of TBUT (88.5%). Predictive values of Schirmer’s test, RBS, GCD, TBUT and CIC was 77.8%, 83.9%, 87.9%, 88.9% and 93.8% respectively in our study group. Cytological findings correlated well with histological findings.

Conclusion: Impression cytology was found to be better when compared to clinical tests. These etiopathological findings will help to decide proper line of management.