[Value of ocular hypotony as a predictor of open-globe injury in patients with ocular trauma].
BACKGROUND
Ocular hypotony is an indirect open-globe injury sign that can be evaluated during primary care. A study was performed to ascertain the chances of a patient with ocular trauma and hypotony during initial evaluation of having open-globe injury compared with another patient without hypotony, and to estimate the value of hypotony as a predictor of open-globe injury.


METHODS
Patients with ocular trauma evaluated between 1995 and 2003 with intraocular pressure records were included; patients with other causes of hypotony were excluded. Patients with hypotony were assigned to group 1 and those without hypotony to group 2. Rate of open-globe injury was compared between groups with chi2, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).


RESULTS
Three hundred sixty one patients (aged 1-90 years average age 26.3 years) were evaluated; 329 patients had closed-globe (91.1%) and 32, open-globe injury (8.9%). Thirty six were assigned to group 1 (10%) and 325 (90%) to group 2. Twenty three patients in group 1 had open-globe injury (63.9%) while nine in group 2 had open-globe injury (2.8%, p <0.001, OR 62.12, 95% CI 21.81-183.6). There was hypotony in 71.9% of eyes with open-globe injury and in 4% of eyes with closed-globe injury.


CONCLUSIONS
Although hypotony was not present in every open-globe injury, the chance of finding the latter when there was hypotony was 62 times greater than without it. Absence of hypotony might be a useful tool to rule out open-globe injury. It would be convenient to validate ocular hypotony as a diagnostic test of open-globe injury by means of a prospective study.
Servicio de Ofthlmología, Hospital Juárez de México. vlimag@aol.com
Virgilio
V
Lima-Gómez
Adriana Madeleine
AM
Cornejo-Mendoza
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015807:Eye Injuries, Penetrating / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015814:Ocular Hypotension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies