[Orbital diseases in Brazzaville University Hospital (Congo)]

The aim of our study was to determine the occurrence of different orbital diseases.

The authors report the results of a retrospective survey of 704 patients examined over 9 years, from January 1981 to December 1989. We used J. Rootman's physiopathologic classification. The inclusion criteria included clinical examination, essential paraclinical explorations, and X-rays. Data frequencies and homogeneity were analyzed with the chi 2 test.

Orbital diseases made up 7.04+/-0.02% of the eye pathologies found. A male prevalence was noted (p<0.05). The distribution according to age groups was characterized by a bimodal curve with a peak at very early childhood and another at the 30s and 40s (p<0.05). Etiologies were as follows: inflammatory diseases and exophthalmia (61.7%), trauma and structural lesions (24.7%), degenerative diseases (3.7%), tumors (3.7%), and blood and vascular diseases (2.4%). Inflammations and orbital injuries occur more often among men and exophthalmia among women (p<0.05). According to age, inflammations, injuries, degenerative diseases, and malformations occur between 0 and 20 years, and inflammations, degenerative diseases, injuries, and tumors occur with greater frequency after 20 years (p<0.05).

Inflammations, injuries, and tumors are the principal diseases of the orbit diagnosed. The different occurrences of tumors and specific inflammations observed in this study are related to the inadequate means of complementary examinations and the difficult access to health care centers in African countries.