Purpose: To evaluate the current clinical indications for enucleation in the material of Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Academy in Białystok.
Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed all enucleations performed between the years 1982 and 2002. Into analysis were included 367 patients (226 males and 141 females) at the age from 18 to 94 years. They were divided into seven groups according to the causes leading to enucleation: trauma, intraocular tumor, glaucoma, phthisis bulbi, endophthalmitis, complications of ocular surgery and corneal diseases.
Results: In our series trauma was the most frequent cause of enucleation (36%), followed by malignant tumor (20.7%), glaucoma (19.6%), phthisis bulbi (9%) and endophthalmitis (8.1%). The majority of intraocular tumors with histological confirmation were melanomas (92.1%). There were significantly more enucleation for trauma in males (p < 0.0001). Patients aged less than 30 years constituted 83.8% of all enucleations for trauma. The total number of eye removals decreased significantly (p < 0.005) over seven-year periods from 149 in 1982-1988, 121 in 1989-1995 to 97 in 1996-2002.
Conclusions: Improved new diagnostic and therapeutic methods, widespread use of photocoagulation in vascular disorders and methods of vitreoretinal surgery in traumas, effective antimicrobial treatment have contributed to the decreasing frequency of enucleation.