title: A retrospective study of ocular side effects in children undergoing bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is recognized as a successful treatment for malignant and non-malignant hematological diseases. Thanks to transplantation, the number of long-term survivors has risen and with the improved prognosis a problem of ocular side effects has arisen. We carried out a retrospective study to determine the incidence and etiopathogenesis of ocular complications in a series of young patients undergoing BMT. One hundred children (62 males and 38 females) with a mean age of 7.12 (+/- 3.3) years at the time of BMT (autologous in 66 cases, allogenic in 34) were followed for a mean of 4.2 years (range 2-9). The conditioning regimens preceding BMT induced cytoreductive chemotherapy alone (47 cases) or associated with total body irradiation (TBI) (53 cases) in three or six fractions for a total dose of 10-12 Gy. We examined every child before BMT and subsequently every six months. We did not include patients with ocular complications due to the primary disease. Thirty-three children showed several complications after BMT: 17 had subcapsular posterior cataract in both eyes and eight had tear hyposecretion; one had dramatic fungal panuveitis, four had hemorrhagic complications and five optic disk edema. TBI was significantly associated with the development of subcapsular posterior cataract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmoloty, Giannina Gaslini Institute, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Marco
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dassio
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vittone
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002386:Cataract / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015821:Eye Infections, Fungal / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007766:Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D010211:Papilledema / Q000209:etiology; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D012166:Retinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014823:Vitreous Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents