The Diagnostic Value of Ultrasound Biomicroscopy in Anterior Segment Diseases

The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) in the diagnosis and follow-up anterior segment diseases.

The records of patients who presented to our clinic for UBM between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. Demographic characteristics, indications for UBM imaging and findings of the patients were recorded. Also, the change in clinical indications over the years were analyzed.

The study included 1.256 eyes of 917 patients, of whom 723 (57.6%) were female and 533 (42.4%) were male. The mean age was 48.7±14.8 years (range: 12-85 years). Indications for UBM imaging were to evaluate glaucoma pathogenesis and surgical outcomes (n=764, 60.8%), iris and ciliary body masses (n=263, 20.9%), congenital anomalies of the crystalline lens and complications of cataract surgery (n=86, 6.8%), the etiology of hypotony (n=57, 4.5%), corneal diseases (n=46, 3.7%), anterior segment findings after trauma (n=22, 1.8%), conjunctival pathologies (n=11, 0.9%), and scleral pathologies (n=7, 0.6%). In patients with glaucoma, the most common reason for requesting UBM according to years was to investigate the plateau iris configuration.

UBM is an important imaging method used in the determination of the pathophysiology of anterior segment diseases, clinical evaluation, planning of surgical treatment and analyzing the outcomes.