PURPOSE: To describe the ultrasound biomicroscopy findings in patients with Sturge-Weber syndrome with or without glaucoma. METHODS: Ultrasound biomicroscopy was performed on 11 eyes from 8 patients with Sturge-Weber syndrome with or without glaucoma. RESULTS: Ultrasound biomicroscopy showed images suggestive of dilated intrascleral vessels in all eyes with or without glaucoma. Supraciliar effusion was found in 8 (88.9%) of 9 eyes with glaucoma and in none of those without glaucoma. Sectorial pars plana detachment was present in one eye with and in two eyes without glaucoma. A round image with low to moderate echogenicity in the ciliary body was present in 8 (88.9%) eyes with glaucoma and in 2 eyes without glaucoma. This image is highly suggestive of a dilated vessel or angioma. CONCLUSIONS: UBM showed paradoxically supraciliary effusion in the great majority of the eyes with glaucoma (89%), controlled by previous surgery in the Sturge-Weber syndrome. The images found in the anterior portion of sclera and in the ciliary body are highly suggestive of a scleral dilated vessel and an angioma, respectively, in eyes with or without glaucoma. These findings associated with increased episcleral venous pressure might contribute to explain not only the pathogenesis of the secondary glaucoma but also the peri- and postoperative complications eventually present during and after the antiglaucomatous surgeries in these eyes.
Sturge-Weber syndrome; Angiomatosis; Glaucoma; Microscopy; Sclera; Ciliary body
