PURPOSE: To evaluate patients with clinically typical and atypical herpetic keratitis (HK) by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as compared with the clinical diagnosis. METHODS: PCR in 28 patients with clinical symptoms of typical and atypical HK was performed. RESULTS: PCR was positive in 57.14% (n=16) of the total cases (n=28). The test was positive in 60.0% (n=12) of the 20 typical HK cases. For epithelial HK, the test was positive in 69.23% (n=9), and 77.78% (n=7) only for dendritic injuries. Atypical HK presented a positive test in 50% (n=4) of eight cases. CONCLUSION: Clinical typical picture of HK had a good correlation with the positive result of PCR, mainly for epithelial injury of the dendritic type. However, 50% of the patients with atypical HK presented positive PCR. This result showed that PCR test can provide an effective HK diagnosis. In the stromal case of HK, PCR was a useful technique to identify HSV virus.
Keratitis; Keratitis, herpetic; Herpes simplex; Polymerase chain reaction; Cornea
