Surgical treatment of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstructions in Italy.

AIM: The aim of this study to present the surgical treatments performed in Italy for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction.

METHODS

This was a retrospective review of the Ministry of Health database for groups aged 0-1 and 1-4 years from 1999 through 2005.

RESULTS

During the study period, a total of 9081 surgical procedures was performed on children 0-4 years of age, 2739 of which on infants under 1 year of age and 6342 on children 1-4 year-old; 8067 (88.8%) of these interventions were represented by nasolacrimal duct probing, 2556 of which in infants under one year of age and 5511 in the 1-4 year age group. Total number of the other surgical techniques was 984, 183 of which among infants younger than one year of age and 801 among children aged 1-4 years. The seven-year mean number of surgical treatments corresponds to a rate of 7.3/10000 live births for infants <1 year old and 4.3/10000 for children aged 1-4 years.

CONCLUSION

When congenital nasolacrimal duct obstructions do not improve spontaneously, probing resulted the more common surgical treatment performed. Our data are related exclusively to infantile inpatients and cases managed on an office basis are not included. Consequently, our figures cannot be considered indicative of the incidence of this pathology in Italy. However, the mean number per 10000 of surgical procedures may represent, in our opinion, a useful indicator for the more severe forms of congenital lacrimal drainage system pathologies.