This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Standards needed for exenteration in orbital mucormycosis patients
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
No standards regarding the use of exenteration in patients with orbital mucormycosis have been published, a survey and review of the literature found.
Roderick N. Hargrove, MD, and colleagues reviewed of 113 articles published between 1934 and 2004. They also surveyed 34 fellowship preceptors of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery regarding their exenteration practices.
In the literature review, the researchers noted a lower survival rate for mucormycosis patients aged 46 years and older who had frontal sinus involvement and fever. Patients were more likely to survive if they received treatment with amphotericin B or if they had diabetes. Additionally, among patients with fever, those who underwent exenteration were more likely to survive than patients who did not undergo exenteration, according to the study.
A review of the 26 returned surveys showed a "varied experience and indication for exenteration throughout the country," the authors said.
Further study is needed to determine how to gauge the extent of mucormycosis and how to predict its progression, the authors noted.
The study is published in the July/August 2006 issue of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.