Orbital and Adnexal Involvement in Sarcoidosis: Analysis of Clinical Features and Systemic Disease in 30 Cases




We read with great interest the recent report by Demirci and associates describing their experience with orbital and ocular adnexal sarcoidosis. We would like to point out what we believe is an incorrect use of the terms excisional biopsy and excision in their article. In the Results section of the abstract, the Methods section, the Statistical Analyses section, and Table 3, the authors report that the sarcoid lesion was excised in 8 patients. We believe that the correct description of the procedure performed on some, if not all, of these patients was in fact an incisional biopsy or debulking, as correctly described in the article’s introduction and Discussion. In Table 3, the authors describe 1 of 8 patients who underwent “excisional biopsy” as being “stable” in follow-up. This terminology is confusing, because after excision, a lesion can be either resolved or recurrent in follow-up, but not “stable.” We remind the readership that an excisional biopsy describes a procedure where the entire pathologic lesion is removed in total, whereas an incisional biopsy describes the removal of a part of the pathologic lesion for diagnostic purposes. We believe that this is an important point because surgical debulking (incisional biopsy) is a treatment option for inflammatory sarcoidosis, whereas complete excision (excisional biopsy) is not standard practice for sarcoid or any other inflammatory orbital or ocular adnexal entity.

Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue

Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel

Jan 16, 2017 | Posted by in OPHTHALMOLOGY | Comments Off on Orbital and Adnexal Involvement in Sarcoidosis: Analysis of Clinical Features and Systemic Disease in 30 Cases

Full access? Get Clinical Tree

Get Clinical Tree app for offline access