Damage of Cornea by Radiation Therapy in Patient with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the eye complication by radiation therapy in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).Methods The 213 patients with NPC were followed-up after the first time radiation.The visual acuity,automational visual field,patternvisual evoked potential(P-VEP) and fluorescein staining were observed before,during and after radiation therapy.Results The corneal epithelium damage rate was 8.9%(19/213).There were 6 cases with Ⅰ～Ⅱ period,8 cases with Ⅲ period and 5 cases with Ⅳ period.The symptom of photophobia,shed tears and pain did not happen in all the 19 patients with corneal damage.The corneal pathological changes basically vanished in 10 months after radiation,but the corneal sensation decreased obviously compared with the contralateral eye,and the abnormal condition remained in 20 months after radiation.Conclusion The corneal damage by radiation in patients with NPC be no related to clinical period and dose of radiation(P0.05),but might be related to disease of ocular surface due to sensory nerve damage of cornea by radiation.Of course,the corneal damage by radiation seems to be related to the individual difference in sensitivity to radiation.