[Toxic anterior segment syndrome].

Toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS) is a general term used to describe acute, sterile postoperative inflammation due to a non-infectious substance that accidentally enters the anterior segment at the time of surgery and mimics infectious endophthalmitis. TASS most commonly occurs acutely following anterior segment surgery, typically 12-72h after cataract extraction. Anterior segment inflammation is usually quite severe with hypopyon. Endothelial cell damage is common, resulting in diffuse corneal edema. No bacterium is isolated from ocular samples. The causes of TASS are numerous and difficult to isolate. Any device or substance used during the surgery or in the immediate postoperative period may be implicated. The major known causes include: preservatives in ophthalmic solutions, denatured ophthalmic viscosurgical devices, bacterial endotoxin, and intraocular lens-induced inflammation. Clinical features of infectious and non-infectious inflammation are initially indistinguishable and TASS is usually diagnosed and treated as acute endophthalmitis. It usually improves with local steroid treatment but may result in chronic elevation of intraocular pressure or irreversible corneal edema due to permanent damage of trabecular meshwork or endothelial cells.