British Journal of Ophthalmology 1997;81:37–40 37 Bacteriology of lacrimal duct obstruction in adults Br J Ophthalmol: first published as 10.1136/bjo.81.1.37 on 1 January 1997. Downloaded from Jouko Hartikainen, Olli-Pekka Lehtonen, K Matti Saari Abstract During the past 20 years there have been Aims—To determine the current bacteri- only a few studies on the bacteriology of adult ology of lacrimal duct obstruction (LDO) LDO. According to them, Staphylococcus epi- and to relate the bacteriological findings dermidis and Staphylococcus aureus are the most to the type of symptoms. frequently isolated organisms in adult lacrimal Methods—127 samples were obtained sac infections.5–7 from the lacrimal sac in 118 consecutive The treatment of LDO in adults is surgery, adult patients with LDO, including nine either external or endonasal dacryocysto- bilateral cases. rhinostomy (DCR), or occasionally silicone Results—Altogether, 156 isolates were re- intubation. Walland and Rose8 reported a five- covered from the 127 samples cultured. fold risk of soft tissue infection after open lac- Cultures were positive from 84% of the rimal surgery without systemic antibiotic samples. Gram positive bacteria were iso- prophylaxis. According to them, postoperative lated in 79 (62%) samples. The most soft tissue infection represents a significant risk frequently cultured bacterial species was of failure in lacrimal surgery. Knowledge of the Staphylococcus epidermidis, represent- bacteriology of LDO contributes significantly ing 27% of the isolates. Gram negative to the choice of prophylactic antimicrobial bacteria were recovered from 26 (20%) agents. samples, and these bacteria were statisti- The purpose of this study was to determine cally significantly more common in cases the current bacteriology of LDO in Finnish with copious discharge than in cases with (white) adults and to determine whether the minor discharge (p=0.000). Cases with bacteriology of SSLD and chronic dacryocysti- simple stenosis of the lacrimal duct tis diVer from each other. (SSLD) showed significantly less Strepto- coccus sp (p=0.004) and Gram negative Materials and methods organisms (p=0.004) than those with PATIENTS chronic dacryocystitis. We examined 118 consecutive adult patients Conclusion—The bacteriology of SSLD with LDO, who had been referred for lacrimal resembles that of normal conjunctival drainage surgery to the outpatient clinic of the http://bjo.bmj.com/ flora. Chronic dacryocystitis in adults is Department of Ophthalmology, Turku Univer- associated with an increased proportion of sity Central Hospital, between April 1994 and Gram negative bacteria which may be a November 1995. The patients ranged in age reservoir for postoperative intraocular from 22 to 89 (mean 63.5) years; 93 (79%) infection. They should also be taken into were women and 25 (21%) were men. Nine of account in selecting antimicrobial the 118 patients with LDO were bilateral cases. Eighteen patients had previously had at least prophylaxis in lacrimal drainage surgery. on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. (Br J Ophthalmol 1997;81:37–40) one acute episode of dacryocystitis, and seven of them had suVered from two to five acute episodes. Patients who had undergone lacrimal Lacrimal sac and/or nasolacrimal duct ob- drainage surgery during the past year were struction, which here is defined as lacrimal excluded. Five patients had had previous duct obstruction (LDO), is an annoying and external DCR performed 1–24 years earlier sometimes an eye threatening ophthalmic and one patient had undergone silicone Turku University problem, which aVects patients of every age. intubation 1 year earlier. Altogether, 112 Central Hospital, Turku, Finland The obstruction may be an idiopathic inflam- patients had not undergone previous lacrimal Department of matory stenosis, the primary acquired naso- drainage operations. Informed consent was Ophthalmology lacrimal duct obstruction (PANDO),1 which obtained from all the patients studied. J Hartikainen mostly aVects middle aged and elderly women, K M Saari or may be secondary to trauma, infection, OPHTHALMIC EXAMINATION inflammation, neoplasm, or mechanical ob- We performed a routine ophthalmic examin- Department of Clinical Microbiology struction, the secondary acquired lacrimal ation including biomicroscopy, using Haag– 2 O-P Lehtonen drainage obstruction (SALDO). Distal ob- Streit 900 instruments paying special attention struction converts the lacrimal sac into a stag- to the presence of discharge and epiphora. The Correspondence to: nant pool, which easily becomes infected lead- LDO was confirmed by irrigation of the J Hartikainen, MD, Department of ing to chronic dacryocystitis with epiphora and lacrimal drainage system and by probing up to 3 Ophthalmology, Turku purulent discharge. It is, however, noticeable the nasal wall of the lacrimal sac fossa. University Central Hospital, that many patients tolerate LDO with epiphora FIN-20520 Turku, Finland. 4 for many years without clinical infection, rep- BACTERIAL ISOLATION Accepted for publication resenting simple stenosis of lacrimal duct In all, 127 samples of the contents of the 12 September 1996 (SSLD). lacrimal sac were obtained from 118 patients; 38 Hartikainen, Lehtonen, Saari nine of the patients had cultures obtained from Table 1 Bacteriological findings of the content of the Br J Ophthalmol: first published as 10.1136/bjo.81.1.37 on 1 January 1997. Downloaded from both sides. The collection of the samples was lacrimal sac in 118 adult patients with lacrimal duct obstruction performed either by applying pressure over the lacrimal sac and allowing the purulent material Number of %of to reflux through the lacrimal punctum, or by isolates % of all samples irrigating the lacrimal drainage system with Micro-organisms isolated (n=156) isolates (n=127)* sterile saline and collecting the sample from Gram positive the refluxing material. The samples were organisms: 108 69.2 Staphylococcus collected with sterile cotton wool swabs, ensur- epidermidis 42 26.9 33.1 ing that the lid margins or the conjunctiva were Staphylococcus aureus 19 12.2 15.0 not touched. None of the patients had used Other Staphylococcus sp 13 8.3 10.2 either antibiotic eyedrops or systemic antibiot- Micrococcus sp 1 0.6 0.8 ics for at least a week before their visit to the Streptococcus outpatient clinic. Anaesthetic eyedrops were pneumoniae 8 5.1 6.3 Other Streptococcus sp 10 6.4 7.9 not used before the sample collection. The Corynebacterium sp 4 2.6 3.1 samples were cultured on the day of collection Other Gram positive rods 11 7.1 8.7 onto blood, chocolate, and fastidious anaerobic Gram negative agar and incubated aerobically and anaerobi- organisms: 26 16.7 cally for 4 days. The anaerobic incubation took Haemophilus influenzae 6 3.8 4.7 place in an anaerobic cabinet (Don Whitley, Haemophilus parainfluenzae 2 1.3 1.6 UK). The bacteriological isolates were identi- Escherichia coli 3 1.9 2.4 fied with standard procedures. Pseudomonas aeruginosa 2 1.3 1.6 Citrobacter sp 2 1.3 1.6 STATISTICS Enterobacter sp 3 1.9 2.4 Fisher’s exact fourfold table test was used for Klebsiella pneumoniae 2 1.3 1.6 Moraxella catarrhalis 1 0.6 0.8 comparing the distributions of the isolated Morganella morganii 1 0.6 0.8 micro-organisms between diVerent clinical Acinetobacter lwoYi 1 0.6 0.8 groups withapvalue < 0.05 chosen to be sta- Proteus sp 1 0.6 0.8 Other Gram negative tistically significant. rods 1 0.6 0.8 Gram negative coccus 1 0.6 0.8 Results Anaerobic organisms: 20 12.8 Propionibacterium sp 16 10.3 12.6 CLINICAL FINDINGS Other anaerobic Gram A total of 97 (76%) cases showed chronic positive rods 2 1.3 1.6 dacryocystitis with purulent discharge and epi- Bacteroides fragilis 1 0.6 0.8 Fusobacterium sp 1 0.6 0.8 phora. These cases were divided into two sub- Fungal organisms: 2 1.3 groups according to the quality of discharge. Candida sp 2 1.3 1.6 Forty six cases showed copious purulent Mixed flora 8 6.3 No micro-organism 20 15.7 discharge or thick mucous discharge coming from the lacrimal sac, and 51 cases showed *Number of samples. http://bjo.bmj.com/ epiphora and minor mucopurulent discharge only. negative bacteria being Haemophilus influenzae, Thirty (24%) patients complaining of epi- which represented 4% of the isolates. Anaero- phora did not show any clinical signs of infec- bic micro-organisms were present in 20 (16%) tion of the lacrimal drainage system. In all of samples. They accounted for 13% of the these, the reflux from the irrigated lacrimal sac isolates, the most frequently isolated anaerobic was entirely clear tear fluid and saline. Our bacteria being Propionibacterium sp, which rep- clinical diagnosis for these 30 cases was SSLD. resented 10% of the isolates, and 80% of all the on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. anaerobic isolates. BACTERIOLOGICAL FINDINGS Both the 30 cases carrying the clinical diag- The results of the aerobic and anaerobic nosis of SSLD, and the 97 cases with chronic cultures of the 118 patients with LDO are pre- dacryocystitis, showed a preponderance of sta- sented in Table 1. Of the 127 samples 107 phylococci, Gram positive rods, Propionibacte- (84%) yielded a positive culture. Of the 107 rium sp, and a few other anaerobic organisms samples with positive culture results, 51 (48%) (Table 2). Not a single isolate of streptococci had mixed cultures with two to four organisms occurred in samples of the cases with SSLD, isolated. Altogether, 156 organisms were iso- whereas these organisms were isolated signifi- lated. The majority of micro-organisms were cantly more often (20%) in samples of the Gram positive bacteria. Altogether, 108 Gram cases with chronic dacryocystitis (p=0.004). positive isolates were recovered, representing Gram negative organisms were also isolated 69% of the overall 156 isolates cultured. Gram significantly more often (26%) in the cases positive bacteria were found in 79 samples, with chronic dacryocystitis than in the cases accounting for 62% of all the samples.