Abstract

MANCHEGO LOMBARDI. Conjunctival eosinophils in the diagnosis of ocular allergy. Rev Med Hered [online]. 2009, vol.20, n.4, pp.195-199. ISSN 1018-130X.

Objective: Determine whether the presence of conjunctival eosinophils contribute to the diagnosis of ocular allergy. Material and Methods: Observational, prospective, diagnostic tests, nonrandomized study, conducted at the Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza - Ophthalmology Service in the period November 2008 - April 2009, where we studied the presence of conjunctival eosinophils in patients with clinical diagnosis of ocular allergy and respective healthy controls. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were determined. Results: 48 patients entered and divided into two groups: patients with clinical diagnosis of ocular allergy (n = 33) and healthy controls (n = 15); from first group, 30 patients (90.9%) had eosinophils in the conjunctival secretion; the second group, 15 patients (100%), did not show eosinophils in the conjunctival secretion. The sensitivity was 90.91%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, negative predictive value 83.33%, positive likelihood ratio could not be identified and negative likelihood ratio 0.09. Conclusions: The presence of conjunctival eosinophils is a test that shows appropriate indices of security and validity in diagnosis, particularly specificity and positive predictive value, making it a complementary and relevant diagnostic test.(Rev Med Hered 2009;20:195-199)

Keywords : eosinophils; ocular allergy.

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