Purpose: To determine the clinical features, treatment, and visual outcome in ocular toxocariasis.
Methods: A total of 16 cases diagnosed as ocular toxocariasis clinically and/or serologically were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 22.6 years. Cases were categorized into three clinical types with peripheral granuloma (43.7%) as the most common presentation. Of the patients, 10 (62.5%) had positive serum ELISA for T. canis; five (31.2%) received combination treatment with anthelmintic and corticosteroid, and eight (50%) patients had vitreous surgery. The visual outcome in eyes which underwent surgery was better, however the difference in medically and surgically treated groups was insignificant (p = 0.11). There was also no difference in visual outcome among the three clinical groups (p = 0.20).
Conclusions: Ocular toxocariasis has a varied presentation spectrum. Serum ELISA for T. canis aids in diagnosis. The difference in visual outcome among clinical and treatment groups was insignificant. However, in general, ocular toxocariasis resulted in a poor visual outcome.
Keywords: Granuloma; helminthic zoonosis; nematode endophthalmitis; ocular toxocara; serum ELISA T. canis.