Acute dacryocystitis in aplastic anemia – A case report

Immunosuppression in Aplastic anemia often leads to bacterial sepsis and pneumonias. We report a case of a 33-year female with aplastic anemia, with acute fulminant dacryocystitis. She also had anemic retinopathy in both eyes with subhyaloid hemorrhage in the left eye. The clinical presentation was as with typical acute dacryocystitis with characteristic erythema and edema inferior to medial canthus. However, there was a rapid progression to systemic sepsis. She was treated with blood and blood component transfusion and hematopoietic growth factors in addition to high-dose broad-spectrum lytic antibiotics. The patient responded initially, but clinical course subsequently deteriorated due to systemic involvement. This may have happened due to infected lacrimal sac acting as a persistent focus of infection. This is the first documented case of treatment of acute dacryocystitis in aplastic anemia.