Investigating Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in the Lacrimal Sacs of Individuals With and Without Chronic Dacryocystitis

OBJECTIVES: Chronic dacryocystitis is usually seen in middle-aged or older women, suggesting that decreased estrogen and progesterone serum levels may be a causative factor in the disease pathology. However, the occurrence of the disease in premenopausal females and males suggests that there may be more to the explanation than the level of female sex hormones. The purpose of the present study was to investigate estrogen and progesterone receptor positivity in the lacrimal sacs of individuals with and without chronic dacryocystitis. METHODS: The study group included 50 female and 20 male patients diagnosed with chronic dacryocystitis. Lacrimal sac samples were taken during a dacryocystorhinostomy. The control group comprised 29 cadavers with no evidence of lacrimal system pathology in the health records. The samples were obtained transconjunctivally. Lacrimal sac samples from both groups were stained with the estrogen and progesterone receptor protein antigen. Fisher’s exact test and a chi-square test were used to compare the receptor positivity results of premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and samples of those with dacryocystitis and cadaver sacs without the disease. RESULTS: In the control group, estrogen receptor positivity was observed in the samples of 2 premenopausal females. In the study group, estrogen receptor positivity was seen in 4 premenopausal females. There was no significant difference in estrogen receptor positivity between the premenopausal and postmenopausal female groups (p=0.41). A similar result was not established between the premenopausal and postmenopausal females in case group (p=0.056). No comparison was made of the progesterone receptor because only 1 example of progesterone receptor positivity was found in a premenopausal female in the dacryocystitis group. CONCLUSION: Estrogen receptor positivity did not seem to be a factor in chronic dacryocystitis physiopathology.