title: Conjunctival Cytological Alterations in Ocular Behçet Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the ocular surface alterations and tear film functions in patients with ocular Behçet disease (BD).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 48 eyes of 48 patients with inactive BD and a control group of 33 age- and sex-matched subjects. Schirmer I and tear break-up time (TBUT) tests were used to evaluate the tear film of the subjects. Impression cytology was used to evaluate morphological changes of the conjunctival surface epithelial cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean Schirmer I test result was 11.6 ± 5.9 mm/5 minutes and 16.1 ± 4.6 mm/5 minutes in the Behçet and control groups, respectively. The mean TBUT test result was 9.8 ± 5.6 seconds and 13.2 ± 5.7 seconds in the study and control groups, respectively. The Schirmer and TBUT test results were significantly lower in the study group than in the controls (P = 0.001 and P = 0.011, respectively). The mean impression cytology score was 1.3 ± 0.9 in the study group and significantly higher than the control group value of 0.4 ± 0.6 (P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tear film functions and conjunctival surface epithelial morphology were significantly altered in patients with ocular BD.
authors.affiliation: *Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Oncology Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey;†Ankara Ulucanlar Eye Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey; and‡Department of Pathology, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Demircan
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Citirik
authors.forename: Nilufer
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berker
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Unverdi
authors.forename: Sema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hucumenoglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D020397:Goblet Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007766:Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013666:Tears / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult