[Clinical features, treatment distribution and outcomes of Mooren's ulcer]

Objective: To investigate the clinical features, treatment distribution and transition of Mooren's ulcer, and to observe the clinical outcomes and recurrence. Methods: Retrospective series case study. Medical records of 125 patients (154 eyes) with Mooren's ulcer treated between January 1996 and December 2015 at our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Seventy-eight males and 47 females were include, with age of (47.6±14.3) years (range: 23-82 years) and median disease course of 6 months (range: 1-240 months). Follow-up occurred between 4.5 and 122 months and the ratio of males to females was 1.66∶1. All patients were divided into two groups: group 1996-2005 and group 2006-2015. Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference of treatment distribution between the two groups and recurrence rate relative to different risk factors. Clinical features and treatment outcomes of Mooren's ulcers were observed simultaneously. Results: The lesion of the primary Mooren's ulcer involved nasal, temporal, superior, inferior and all limbus in 48, 41, 13, 23 and 29 eyes, respectively. The numbers of eyes treated with medical therapy, LKP and amniotic membrane grafting were 6, 61 and 1 in group 1996, with recurrence rate of 1/6, 24.59% and 0 respectively. The numbers in group 2006 were 27, 38 and 14 with recurrence rate of 7.41%, 34.21% and 2/14, respectively. The differences of eyes underwent three different therapies were statistical significance between two groups (χ(2)=29.315, P=0.000), but the differences of total recurrence rate were not (χ(2)=0.149, P=0.699). Thirty-four patients (34 eyes) suffered ulcer recurrence, among which 23 eyes (67.65%) had recurrence within 12 months after treatment and 31 eyes (91.12%) were saved. Finally, 150 of 154 eyes (97.40%) were saved and 129 eyes (83.77%) retained vision better than 0.05. Conclusions: Mooren's ulcers were prone to occur in males and in patients older than 35 years. The lesion more often involved interpalpebral limbus. Lamellar keratoplasty was the most frequently used surgical intervention for primary Mooren's ulcer with a recurrence rate of 28.28%. In recent 10 years, the percentage of patients treated with LKP decreased while percentage of medical treatment and amniotic membrane grafting went up obviously, and the total recurrence rate between two groups had no statitical differences. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2019, 55:127-133).