Differentiate clinical factors for accurate keratitis diagnosis
WASHINGTON — Differentiating between microbial and nonmicrobial keratitis is important to make an accurate keratitis diagnosis, according to a speaker here.
“The key here is to recognize the clinical and morphological factors that differentiate those two,” Maria A. Woodward, MD, MSc, ABO, said at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting.
Woodward said ophthalmologists should be familiar with best practice patterns and discuss cases with colleagues when possible.
“These cases can be quite nuanced and complicated,” she said.
Creating strategies to collect relevant information about a case as well as searching for specific risk factors is beneficial, Woodward said. It is also useful to know what specific questions to ask during the diagnostic process and to differentiate between various types of organisms.
“As you all know, many patients come to us pretreated with either antibiotics or steroids, which can really blur the picture and make this more complicated,” she said.
Knowing the community prevalence of microbial keratitis is another important aspect of diagnosis. Woodward gave a brief update on the potential of deep learning in microbial keratitis, noting that most existing studies on the topic are single center and that deep learning has not yet been tested on external validation data sets.
“We’re really just getting started in this space,” Woodward said.
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Woodward MA. Deep learning approach in diagnosis of microbial keratitis. Presented at: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting; April 22-26, 2022; Washington.
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