title: Ophthalmic manifestations in recently diagnosed childhood leukemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and the pattern of ocular involvement in children with leukemia at the time of diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data of patients with leukemia who underwent complete ophthalmic examination at the time of diagnosis between January 2005 and December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic data, type of leukemia, ocular findings, blood parameters, and duration of follow-up were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 185 patients (111 male and 74 female) were included in the study, with a median age of 6.0 years (range 0.5-18.0 years) and a median follow-up time of 36.0 months (range 0.5-108.0 months). Ocular signs were present in 24.3% of the patients at the time of diagnosis and 37.8% of them were symptomatic. The prevalence of ocular involvement was 20.4% in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and 36.4% in patients with acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) (p = 0.051). Fatality rate was significantly higher in subjects with AML compared with ALL (p = 0.019), but was not significantly different between patients with and without ocular involvement (p = 0.166). There were no significant differences in hemoglobin levels, white blood cell counts, or platelet counts between patients with ALL and AML. Platelet counts were significantly lower in patients with ocular signs compared with subjects without ocular involvement (p = 0.012), while hemoglobin levels and white blood cell counts did not differ significantly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Various ocular signs may be present at the time of diagnosis in childhood leukemia, even in patients without any symptoms. Routine ophthalmic examination should be performed in recently diagnosed children with leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya - Turkey.
authors.forename: Gulfidan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bitirgen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Karaman State Hospital, Karaman - Turkey.
authors.forename: Selman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belviranli
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology, Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya - Turkey.
authors.forename: Umran
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Caliskan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology, Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya - Turkey.
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tokgoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya - Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozkagnici
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya - Turkey.
authors.forename: Nazmi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zengin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies