Frequency of toxoplasmic retinal lesions in Eye Bank retinas

Abstract

Purpose : Ocular toxoplasmosis is the main cause of posterior uveitis worldwide. In Brazil, the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection ranges from 50% to 80% depending of the region studied. The frequency of toxoplasmic retinal scar may goes from 6% to 18% of the adults. Our goal was to determine the frequency of toxoplasmic lesions in retinas from Eye Bank Eyes from different regions in Brazil.

Methods : A total of 162 eyes were obtained from Eye Banks in Manaus(n=60), Sao Paulo (n=60), Chapeco (n=26) and Joinville (n=16) from 2014 to 2016. The retinas were macroscopically analyzed and retinal images taken from the lesions suspected to be caused by Toxoplasma gondii.

Results : The macroscopic analysis demonstrated that 4 from 60 retinas from Sao Paulo (6.7%), 6 from 60 retinas from Manaus (10%), 4 from 26 retinas from Chapeco (15.4%) and 10 from 16 retinas from Joinville (62.5%) had retinal hyperpigmented focal lesions consistent with the diagnosis of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis.

Conclusions : Our findings have shown a higher frequency of retinal focal lesions in the retinas from Joinville in comparison with retinas from Sao Paulo, Manaus and Chapeco.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.