Enucleation in a tertiary eye care centre in India: prevalence, current indications and clinicopathological correlation

Purpose Enucleation is a standard surgical treatment modality for many end-stage eye diseases. Indications for enucleation vary with changing trends in disease management. Few studies have addressed the issue of the frequency and indications of enucleation of eyes in India. We aimed to determine the frequency and the current clinical indications for enucleation in patients at a tertiary eye care centre in India, and attempted a clinicopathological correlation. Methods Medical records of patients undergoing enucleation at a tertiary eye care centre over a period of 3 1/2 years (January 1995 to July 1998) were reviewed to obtain patients' demographic data and socio-economic status. The clinical indications and predisposing factors were assessed. The formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of all enucleated eyes were re-evaluated and histopathological findings were correlated with the clinical diagnosis. The prevalence of enucleation was calculated, and age adjustments were done using the Indian population data from 1998 mid-year statistics. Results Enucleation of the eye was performed in 150 patients (151 eyes) out of 88 991 new ophthalmic cases, constituting 0.17% of the cases seen in the hospital, and amounting to a prevalence of 0.33% (95% CI, 0.27-0.40). Males outnumbered females in a ratio of 1.85:1 (98 males, 53 females). The median age was 8 years (mean 16.8+/-18.3 years). Children below 15 years of age constituted 85.2% (95% CI, 81.2-89.21%) of cases that underwent enucleation. Clinical indications for enucleation included tumours in 74 (49%); staphyloma in 38 (25%); acute injury in 20 (13%); absolute glaucoma in 9 (6%); painful blind eye in 5 (3%); phthisis bulbi in 1 (1%); and others in 4 (3%). Of the 74 cases with a clinical diagnosis of tumour, histopathology revealed retinoblastoma in 55 (74%) cases, melanoma in 6 (8%) and ocular surface tumours in 4 (6%). Clinico-pathological correlation was 100% in cases with a definite clinical diagnosis of retinoblastoma and melanoma. Nine blind eyes (6%) in which an intraocular tumour was one of the differential diagnoses, were negative for a tumour on histopathology. Staphyloma was more prevalent in the low socio-economic group (p=0.0004), with a history of childhood trauma in 34% cases. Conclusions The prevalence of enucleation in the population reporting to this tertiary eye care centre was 33 per 10 000 population over the study period of 1/2 years. Major indications for enucleation were tumours, staphyloma and trauma (88% of all cases). Increased frequency in the young was due to the high proportion of retinoblastoma and staphyloma. Childhood trauma, inflammation and malnutrition may together play a role in the pathogenesis of staphyloma. Awareness at the level of primary health care providers, paediatricians and general practitioners should be promoted to identify the disease process at an early stage and facilitate early intervention measures that could result in eye and vision salvage.