European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Thalassemia are the most common single gene disorder worldwide. Mutations involving the beta globin gene in beta-thalassemia cause disruption in red blood cell maturation leading to ineffective erythropoiesis and multi-system involvement, including eye. In beta-thalassemia patient abnormal erythropoiesis leads to severe anemia, due to which repeated blood transfusions are required to maintain hemoglobin level at or above 10mg/dl. Multiple blood transfusions and ineffective erythropoiesis.
Aims:  To study the prevalence of ocular abnormalities in beta thalassemia major patients.
Materials and Methods: The present study was a Institution based descriptive, cross-sectional study. This Study was conducted from one and half year (February 2020 -August 2021) at Department of Ophthalmology North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.
Result: The present study showed that among 75 study subjects 93.3% had refractive errors in either eye and 6.7 % were emmetropic. The present study also showed that among 150 eyes 6% eyes had emmetropia, 69.66% had hypermetropia, 38.66 % eyes had myopia and 45.33% eyes had astigmatism. The mean axial length in our study was 21.78 + 0.73 mm, The mean anterior chamber depth (ACD) in our study was 3.00 + 0.48 mm, The mean (SD) lens thickness in right eye was 4.05 (±0.58) mm and in left eye were 3.90 ((±0.68) mm. In our study the mean (SD) K1 in right eye was 44.61 (±1.49) Diopter and in left eye were 44.87 ((±1.68) Diopter, whereas the mean (SD) K2 in right eye was 44.84 (±1.62) Diopter and in left eye were 45.07 ((±1.43) Diopter.
Conclusion: We included 75 patients of Beta Thalassemia Major patients. The male population was 56% and female were 44%. The mean age of the study subjects was 9.53 + 3.36 years (range 6 to 18 years).