Cobb's Tufts: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Cobb's tufts, also known as iris vascular tufts (IVT) and iris microhemangiomas (IMH), are coils of tightly clustered, minute blood vessels at the iris pupillary border. This study aimed to analyze previous literature and provide an update on Cobb's tufts. A systematic literature review was carried out by interrogating PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane, and Embase databases. Full-text English language articles of any year were included in this study. A total of 38 articles fulfilled our inclusion criteria. A total of 115 reported cases of Cobb's tufts were incorporated into our review. The age of the patients ranged between 36 and 86 years. No sex or racial predisposition was noted. Most patients had no history of trauma, surgery, or blood dyscrasia. The majority of cases are asymptomatic and bilateral unless a spontaneous hyphema occurs, which most commonly presents as blurred vision. The etiology of this condition remains uncertain; however, a higher incidence has been shown in systemic conditions such as myotonic dystrophy and diabetes. Fluorescein angiography can be utilized to investigate tufts. Management includes treatment of raised intraocular pressure, observation for single bleeds, laser therapy for recurrent hyphemas, and lastly, iridectomy, which is considered in cases of recurrence following laser treatment.

Keywords: cobb's tufts; hyphema; iris microhaemangioma; iris vascular tufts; spontaneous hyphema.

Figure 1. Flowchart outlining the systematic review process.