Characterization of patients with ocular pain evaluated with ultrasound

The cause of ocular pain in the quiet eye is challenging to diagnose. It is a common complaint in the ophthalmology clinic and there are no actual guidelines on the exams that should be ordered initially. We decided to characterize patients with eye pain and normal ophthalmological examination who underwent ocular ultrasound, their findings, and systemic work-up.

A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent ocular ultrasound due to ocular pain and no clinical findings on initial slit-lamp examination. We evaluated patient characteristics and analyzed systemic work-up results in contrast to ocular ultrasound findings.

Two hundred and three patients with normal slit-lamp examination and ocular pain were evaluated using ocular ultrasound at Clinica Barraquer. Most of the patients were women (88.7%), and 55% were older than 50 years. Nearly all of the patients had echographic findings, 87.7% of patients showed evidence of scleral scars, from which 66.5% had signs of activity, and 42.9% had thickened extraocular muscles. In general, most patients with ocular pain had normal results on systemic work-up, but the patients who did have positive results tended to have echographic findings.

Posterior inflammation is present in most patients with ocular pain in a quiet eye, and echography is an optimal tool to identify this. There is a tendency towards abnormal autoimmune test results and echographic findings. This should be considered in the initial work-up of these patients, given the importance of early diagnosis and the threat of vision loss with severe inflammation.