Fundus topographical distribution patterns of ocular toxoplasmosis

Abstract

Background: to establish topographic maps and determine fundus distribution patterns of ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) lesions. Methods: in this retrospective study, patients who presented with OT to ophthalmology clinics from four countries (Argentina, Turkey, UK, USA) were included. Size, shape and location of primary (1 degrees)/recurrent (2 degrees) and active/inactive lesions were converted into a two-dimensional retinal chart by a retinal drawing software. A final contour map of the merged image charts was then created using a custom Matlab programme. Descriptive analyses were performed. Results984 lesions in 514 eyes of 464 subjects (53% women) were included. Mean area of all 1 degrees and 2 degrees lesions was 5.96 +/- 12.26 and 5.21 +/- 12.77 mm(2), respectively. For the subset group lesions (eyes with both 1 degrees and 2 degrees lesions), 1 degrees lesions were significantly larger than 2 degrees lesions (5.52 +/- 6.04 mm(2) vs 4.09 +/- 8.90 mm(2), p=0.038). Mean distances from foveola to 1 degrees and 2 degrees lesion centres were 6336 +/- 4267 and 5763 +/- 3491 mu m, respectively. The majority of lesions were found in temporal quadrant (p<0.001). Maximum overlap of all lesions was at 278 mu m inferotemporal to foveola. Conclusion: the 1 degrees lesions were larger than 2 degrees lesions. The 2 degrees lesions were not significantly closer to fovea than 1 degrees lesions. Temporal quadrant and macular region were found to be densely affected underlining the vision threatening nature of the disease.