Troisi Mario, Del Prete Salvatore, Troisi Salvatore, Marasco Daniela, Costagliola Ciro
Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive and Dentistry Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Service Biotech s.r.l., 80121 Naples, Italy.
Reports (MDPI). 2023 Feb 27;6(1):10. doi: 10.3390/reports6010010.
65 consecutive patients with presumed microbial keratitis and negative culture tests for bacteria and fungi obtained by corneal curettage were evaluated. All patients had undergone local broad spectrum antibiotic therapy for at least 5 days with no clinical improvement. After 48-72 h of wash-out they underwent scraping of the superior tarsal conjunctiva for cytological examination of cellular morphology in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The presence of pathogenic microorganisms was detected with this method in 62 of these patients, towards which specific therapy was carried out. Clinical improvement and eradication of microorganisms previously detected by SEM examination were observed in all positive patients over a time between 10 and 49 days. In three patients, no microorganisms were detected, but the presence of inflammatory cells (eosinophils and mast cells) or dry eye findings. This method could be useful to detect the presence of non-isolated microorganisms at common culture tests. The resolution of the infectious keratitis and the eradication of the pathogens at the subsequent cytological examination of cellular morphology in Scanning Electron Microscopy support the validity of the proposed method.
对65例疑似微生物性角膜炎且角膜刮片细菌和真菌培养试验阴性的患者进行了评估。所有患者均接受了至少5天的局部广谱抗生素治疗，但临床症状无改善。在停药48 - 72小时后，他们接受了上睑结膜刮片，以便在扫描电子显微镜（SEM）下对细胞形态进行细胞学检查。通过这种方法在其中62例患者中检测到了致病微生物，并针对这些微生物进行了特异性治疗。在10至49天的时间内，所有阳性患者均观察到临床症状改善且之前通过SEM检查检测到的微生物被清除。在3例患者中未检测到微生物，但存在炎性细胞（嗜酸性粒细胞和肥大细胞）或干眼表现。这种方法可能有助于在常规培养试验中检测未分离出的微生物的存在。在随后的扫描电子显微镜细胞形态学细胞学检查中感染性角膜炎的消退和病原体的清除支持了所提出方法的有效性。
