title: Clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of primary canaliculitis among patients in Beijing, China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Canaliculitis may cause punctal or canalicular swelling, discharge, erythema, and sometimes concretions. This study examined the clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of primary canaliculitis from patients at a top-rated hospital in Beijing, China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 16 patients (retrospective case series) were studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study included four males and twelve females with a median age of 72.5 years. The mean and the median follow-up time were 10.4 months and 6 months, respectively. The mostly observed clinical symptoms were epiphora with discharge (94%), while the mostly observed signs included pouting punctum (75%) and punctal regurgitation of concretions under syringing (75%). Only the symptoms of one patient among those with conservative therapy completely resolved within two-year follow-up. Curettage therapy was found to partly resolve the clinical symptoms and signs within the follow-up of four weeks. Fifteen patients finally received curettage with punctoplasty, and symptoms completely resolved in fourteen patients after one surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Syringing with pressing of lacrimal sac area may help better diagnosis of canaliculitis. Additionally, curettage with punctoplasty is recommended for thorough removal of concretions and complete resolution of canaliculitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, People's Eye Institute, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China ; Key Laboratory of Vision Loss and Restoration, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China ; Peking University Center for Human Disease Genomics, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Peking University Medical Informatics Center, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, People's Eye Institute, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China ; Key Laboratory of Vision Loss and Restoration, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Xin
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, People's Eye Institute, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China ; Key Laboratory of Vision Loss and Restoration, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Wu
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000068476:Beijing; D000069282:Canaliculitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D003475:Curettage / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome