Ocular Disorders in Renal Transplant Patients

Abstract

This cross-sectional study was performed to determine ocular findings in renal transplant recipients and to correlate them with certain clinical characteristics related to transplantation. The study was performed on 150 patients who had received a renal transplant at least three months earlier and had serum creatinine levels < 3 mg/dL. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination. Clinical variables studied related to the transplant included cause of renal failure, duration of hemodialysis prior to transplantation and immunosuppressive regimen. Overall, 91 male and 59 female subjects with a mean age of 39.9 ± 17.7 years were included. At least one ocular abnormality could be detected in 89.3% including impaired visual acuity 0 20/25 (48.6%), conjunctival degeneration in the palpebral fissure (36.6%), posterior sub-capsular cataracts (24%), pinguecula (17.3%), retinal pigment epitheliopathy (14%), arteriovenous crossing changes (8.6%), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (6%), central serous chorioretinopathy and retinal vein occlusions (each in 3.3%), and non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve atrophy and diabetic macular edema (each in 2.7%). Abnormal ocular findings were not correlated with the underlying renal disorder or use of cyclosporine and prednisolone; however, they were positively correlated with transplant duration, pre-transplant dialysis duration and usage of azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil. Our study suggests that ocular disorders are frequent among renal transplant patients especially with older transplants and those with a longer period of pre-transplant hemodialysis.