[Primary hyperoxaluria. Clinical, histological and crystallographic study of the ocular lesions]. / Hyperoxalurie primaire. Etude clinique, histologique et cristallographique des lésions oculaires

ABSTRACT

A post-mortem histological examination of the eyes of a case of primary hyperoxaluria revealed the presence of crystals in the ciliary processes and at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium. The crystallography study demonstrated that it consisted of wewhellite. The ocular lesions are compared with those found by other authors in primary hyperoxaluria, after prolonged methoxyflurane anaesthesia, after experimental administration of dibutyloxalic acid or naphthalene, and in the human retina in longstanding detachments. Most of the factors which give rise to the presence in the eye of oxalate and its selective precipitation in the midst of certain ocular tissues remain hypothetical. The retinal lesions observed in primary hyperoxaluria appear to be pathognomonic for hyperoxalaemia.