The Correlation between Organisms Cultured from the Lacrimal Sac and Lacrimal Punctum in Dacryocystitis

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the correlation between organisms cultured from the lacrimal punctum and lacrimal sac in acute and chronic dacryocystitis during endonasal or external dacryocystorhinostomy. METHODS: Clinical and microbiological records of patients who received endonasal or external dacryocystorhinostomy diagnosed with chronic or acute dacryocystitis between January 2006 and July 2010 were reviewed for age, gender, and culture results from samples of the lacrimal punctum and the lacrimal sac. RESULTS: A total of 107 (93%) patients were positive for bacterial cultures from the lacrimal punctum or sac. The majority of microorganisms from the lacrimal punctum were Staphylococcus epidermidis (24%), and the majority of microorganisms from the lacrimal sac were Staphylococcus aureus (25%). When simultaneous positive culture results from the lacrimal punctum and lacrimal sac were observed, the microorganisms from the 2 areas were identical in 62% of the samples. Additionally, the majority of these organisms were S. aureus. CONCLUSIONS: A high rate of microorganism-positive cultures from the lacrimal sac or lacrimal punctum with a diagnosis of chronic or acute dacryocystitis was found. In addition, the culture results demonstrated that the cause of dacryocystitis was mostly conjunctival normal flora, with a high degree of similarity in organisms between the lacrimal sac and lacrimal punctum (61.7%).