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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Obstruction or stenosis of the lacrimal ducts, which leads to inadequate drainage of tears, may cause intermittent or constant tearing, which is termed “epiphora, radiological evaluation to the lacrimal gland are divided into anatomical (conventional dacrocystigraphy, CT dacrocystography and MR dacrocystograhy), and functional evaluation (staining test, scintigraphy and dynamic MR dacrocystography). AIM OF STUDY: To study the value of MRI dacrocystography in patients with clinically diagnosed epiphora. METHODS: A total of 36 patients who had presented to the Ophthalmology Clinic from 1st of April 2019 to 1st of October 2019 who were suspected to have obstruction of lacrimal drainage system, were evaluated with MR-DCG after instillation of 0.5% sterile water into the conjunctiva. The examination was performed at MRI department in the X-ray institute in the Medical City, then ophthalmological examination (punctum lavage test) was performed bilaterally for all enrolled patients. RESULTS: Obstruction of lacrimal drainage system was successfully detected in a total of 41 eyes of 36 patients undergoing examination with MR-DCG. The MR-DCG findings of 72 nasolacrimal systems were compared with the ophthalmologic professional diagnosis findings in all patients the sensitivity of MR-DCG was 90.6% for identification of nasolacrimal system obstruction when compared with the ophthalmological professional examination findings, and MR-DCG was found to detect obstruction with high accuracy and provide further information about the level of obstruction and if the obstruction in partial or complete. CONCLUSION: MR-DCG has a high success rate in detection of lacrimal drainage system obstructions and the level and cause of the obstruction, this method avoids both cannulation and ionizing radiation, so could be repeated if necessary, non-time consuming and avoids the side effect of contrast.

DOI

10.52573/ipmj.2020.169737

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