Purpose: To examine the morphological changes in meibomian glands using noncontact infrared meibography in patients undergoing radiotherapy and to compare the results with those of a normal population.
Cases and Method: Thirteen eyes of 8 patients (2 men and 6 women; 65.1±17.6 years, mean±standard deviation) diagnosed as having ocular adnexal lymphoma and had undergone radiotherapy were included in this study. Meibomian gland morphological changes (meiboscore) were assessed by noncontact meibography. The results were compared with those of forty-one eyes of 21 healthy volunteers (9 men and 12 women; 66.9±11.6 years).
Results: The meiboscore was 3.69±0.75 in the irradiation group and 2.41±1.34 in the control group, showing a significant difference between the groups (p=0.0029). When compared with the irradiated and fellow eyes in the patients with unilateral radiotherapy, the mean meiboscore of irradiated eyes (4.00±1.00) was higher than that of the fellow eyes (2.66±0.57) even though there was no significant difference.
Conclusion: Radiotherapy causes morphological changes in the meibomian glands such as atrophy and dropout.
Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi (J Jpn Ophthalmol Soc) 116: 715-720, 2012.