A combined clinical and ophthalmologic study was conducted on 25 patients with beta-thalassemia major from the Haematology-Oncology Clinic, Children's Hospital, Ein-Shams University, and on 10 patients suffering from severe ankylostoma anemia for comparison.
Eye manifestations were present in almost half of the patients (12/25). The most common were tortuous retinal veins and venules. Tortuous venules of the conjunctiva occurred in 2 patients and pale fundi in another 2. The retinal vascular changes were not accompanied by abnormalities of the vessels. Their incidence increased with age, reaching 66.6% in those older than 10 years. These changes were also found to be related to the degree of anemia and to the degree of hemosiderosis as manifested by the size of the liver. On the other hand, 7 of 10 control cases (with severe ankylostoma anemia) presented with pale fundus background (70%), 2 of them had congested, non-tortuous retinal veins; in one patient, pre-retinal hemorrhages were present.
This work suggests that tortuous veins and corkscrew venules in the retina are characteristic ocular changes in beta-thalassemia major.
*The following 2 abstracts have been received from Dr. Sarnia Temtamy of Cairo.