Conjunctival scrape cytology findings in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the conjunctival scrape cytology findings in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).


METHODS
Conjunctival scrape cytology was performed to find the cause of conjunctivitis in 20 patients with chronic conjunctival GVHD. All patients had chronic ocular symptoms such as foreign body sensation, burning, tearing and red eye. Twenty age-matched bone marrow transplant recipient without GVHD were included as a control group.


RESULTS
Scraping yielded a sufficient number of cells. Cytologic findings included atypical epithelial cells; loss of goblet cells; epithelial cells with vacuolated or coarse, granular cytoplasm; squamous metaplasia; and a prominent inflammatory background.


CONCLUSIONS
Conjunctival scrape cytology yields a sufficient number of cells in conjunctival GVHD. This method is useful for the diagnosis of complications associated with conjunctival GVHD and may be helpful in evaluating the response to treatment options.
Department of Ophthalmology and Poostchi Ophthalmology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. hosseinih@sums.ac.ir
Hamid
H
Hosseini
Perikala Vijayananda
PV
Kumar
Bita
B
Geramizadeh
Behdokht
B
Nowroozizadeh
Mani
M
Ramzi
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000473:pathology*; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005123:Eye / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D055815:Young Adult