The Effect of Systemic Steroid Therapy on Dry Eye in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantated Patients

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of systemic steroid therapy on the development of dry eye syndrome (DES) in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) resulting from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in hematologic malignancy (HM) patients. Methods: We analyzed 108 HSCT patients. We measured tear film break‐up time (BUT) and basal tear secretion, and checked for corneal lesions. BUT under 10 seconds and basal tear secretion under 10 mm gave a diagnosis of DES. Significant corneal lesions were also described in this gorup. We compared the clinical aspect and frequency of dry eye according to GVHD and also compared clinical aspects of dry eye in GVHD patients before and after systemic steroid therapy. Results: Fifty-six patients (51.9%) developed GVHD, including 51 patients (91.1%) in the GVHD group and 31 patients (59.6%) in the non-GVHD group. The frequency of DES was statistically significant in the GVHD group (p0.05). Conclusions: The severity and frequency of DES were high in the GVHD group. At the same time, systemic steroid therapy could relieve DES in GVHD patients. Therefore, proper medical treatment and ocular examinations should be performed for HSCT patients. J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 49(6):891-896, 2008