Sympathetic ophthalmia following laser cyclocoagulation
N. E. Bechrakis, N. W. Muller-Stolzenburg, H. Helbig and M. H. Foerster
Department of Ophthalmology, Klinikum Steglitz, Free University of Berlin, Germany.
We describe a 49-year-old white man with sympathetic ophthalmia following
contact neodymium-YAG laser cyclotherapy. There was no invasive surgery,
and no perforating injuries preceded cyclodestructive therapy. The eye had
hemorrhagic secondary glaucoma due to Coats' disease. It was treated three
times with contact cyclophotocoagulation after cyclocryotherapy failed to
lower intraocular pressure. Subsequently, the intraocular pressure slowly
decreased and the eye became phthisical 15 months after the last surgery.
Intraocular inflammation developed in the fellow eye and sympathetic
ophthalmia was suspected. Histologic and immunohistologic study of the
enucleated blind eye confirmed this diagnosis.
