LASER PHOTOCOAGULATION AROUND THE FOCI OF TOXOPLASMA RETINOCHOROIDITIS - A DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS OF 35 PATIENTS WITH LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP

Thirty-five patients with toxoplasma retinochoroiditis, receiving medi cal treatment and then treated with laser photocoagulation around the foci, were retrospectively evaluated for the risk of recurrence of the retinochoroiditis with a Kaplan-Meier representation. The recurrence rates with 95% symmetric confidence intervals were: at 1 year, 12.7 +/ - 13%; at 2 years, 19.8 +/- 15%; at 3 years, 24.0 +/- 16%; at 4 years, 33.3 +/- 19%; at 5, 6 and 7 years, 53.5 +/- 21%; at 8 and 9 years, 66 .8 +/- 22%. With the data provided by our series, it is not possible t o show the efficacy of laser photocoagulation as a prevention of recur rence in toxoplasma retinochoroiditis. Moreover, because of their hete rogeneity, the recurrence rates from the literature cannot provide pre cise data for a comparison. Concerning the laser-induced thermal damag e, the potential therapeutic mechanism of the laser procedure is discu ssed.