Comparative study of fungal culture and in vivo confocal microscopy in the diagnosis of non-primary fungal keratitis / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

AIM: To compare fungal culture and in vivo confocal microscopy ( IVCM ) in the diagnosis of non- primary fungal keratitis.?METHODS:The clinical data of 31 cases (31 eyes) with non- primary fungaI keratitis from September 2016 to February 2017 in our HospitaI were retrospectiveIy reviewed. The positive rate of the two methods was compared by chi-square test.?RESULTS: The positive rate by fungal culture was 58％(18/31 ) and IVCM was 19％ ( 6/31 ); the positive rate comparison difference was statistically significant between fungal culture and IVCM (x2=7. 56,P<0. 01). In the 13 eyes with positive culture results, 2 eyes were positive by IVCM;in the 25 positive IVCM eyes, 14 eyes were positive in culture.?CONCLUSION: The positive rate of fungal culture in non-primary fungal keratitis is higher than that of IVCM. Fungal culture is an essential auxiliary examination in the diagnosis of non - primary fungal keratitis. With the characteristics of fast, noninvasive and repeatable, IVCM also plays an important role in the diagnosis of non-primary fungal keratitis. The combination of the two methods can improve the positive rate of diagnosis.