Early Pars Plana Vitrectomy for Treatment of Acute Infective Endophthalmitis

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of early pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for the treatment of acute infective endophthalmitis, and identify prognostic factors for better visual outcome. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent early PPV within 72 hours of presentation for the treatment of acute infective bacterial endophthalmitis and presented to a large tertiary referral center in New South Wales, Australia, between January 2009 and December 2013 were included. Changes in best-corrected visual acuity (VA) from baseline to 1 year were examined. Results: A total of 64 patients were included. The inciting events were cataract surgery (53%), intravitreal injection (36%), trabeculectomy (3%), and endogenous (3%). The mean VA improved from 3.1 logMAR (hand motion) at baseline to 1.02 (approximately 20/200) at 1 year, with 42% achieving final VA equal to or better than 0.477 logMAR (20/60) following early PPV. Positive prognostic factors were negative microbial cultures (P < 0.01) and etiology of post-cataract surgery (P < 0.01). In multivariable analyses adjusting for age and prognostic factors, patients with baseline VA of light perception and hand motion achieved greater visual gains than those with counting fingers, with gains of logMAR of -2.68, -2.09, and -0.85, respectively (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Most patients who undergo early PPV experience substantial VA improvement. Negative microbial cultures and endophthalmitis after cataract surgery were associated with better final visual outcome. Patients with presenting VA of light perception or hand motion achieved higher visual gains than those with counting fingers, suggesting the possibility that early PPV may be beneficial in both groups

The role of OCT-A in retinal disease management

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) is a non-invasive, non-dye-based imaging modality that has the potential to enhance our understanding of retinal diseases. While this rapidly advancing imaging modality offers great potential, there is a need for community-wide understanding of the range of technologies and methods for interpreting the images, as well as a need to enhance understanding of images from disease-free eyes for reference when screening for retinal diseases. Importantly, clinical trials have been designed without OCT-A-based endpoints; therefore, caution is required when making treatment decisions based on OCT-A imaging alone. With this in mind, a full understanding of the advantages and limitations of OCT-A will be vital for effective development of the technique within the field of ophthalmology. On behalf of the Vision Academy Steering Committee (sponsored by Bayer), this publication summarizes the views of the authors on the current use of OCT-A imaging and explores its potential for future applications in research and clinical practice

Does unintentional macular translocation after retinal detachment repair influence visual outcome? Response

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Vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To systematically review, and perform meta-analysis on, the available data regarding the efficacy of vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trial data. Methods: We searched PubMed and the Cochrane database for randomized, controlled trials investigating vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema. Structural (foveal thickness) and functional (visual acuity) outcomes were used as the primary outcome measures. Results: Eleven studies met the criteria for inclusion in this review: these studies were heterogenous in their experimental and control interventions, follow-up period, and eligibility criteria. Seven studies compared vitrectomy with the natural history of diabetic maculopathy, with laser, or with intravitreal corticosteroid injection. Four studies compared vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling to vitrectomy alone. One of the latter 4 studies was the only to investigate vitrectomy in patients with vitreomacular traction. Meta-analysis suggests a structural, and possibly functional, superiority of vitrectomy over observation at 6 months. Vitrectomy also appears superior to laser in terms of structural, but not functional, outcomes at 6 months. At 12 months, vitrectomy offers no structural benefit and a trend toward inferior functional outcomes when compared with laser. Conclusions: There is little evidence to support vitrectomy as an intervention for diabetic macular edema in the absence of epiretinal membrane or vitreomacular traction. Although vitrectomy appears to be superior to laser in its effects on retinal structure at 6 months, no such benefit has been proved at 12 months. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest a superiority of vitrectomy over laser in terms of functional outcomes.8 page(s

Does unintentional macular translocation after retinal detachment repair influence visual outcome?

Abstract: Background: To document the occurrence of postoperative macular translocation after retinal detachment repair and discuss its influence on visual outcome. Design: Retrospective case series in a tertiary care setting. Participants: Five eyes of five patients presenting to our clinic with macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Methods: All patients underwent surgical repair of the retinal detachment, with regular postoperative follow-up, including macular optical coherence tomography and fundus autofluorescence. Main Outcome Measures: Visual acuity and subjective visual symptoms in patients with anatomically successful retinal detachment repair, in whom inadvertent macular translocation was noted. Results: Our series demonstrates the presence of unintentional macular translocation after retinal detachment repair, detected by fundus autofluorescence imaging. In contrast to previous reports, we document inadvertent macular translocation in one patient after scleral buckling surgery. In each case, the retina was fully reattached postoperatively and no other complications were identified. There was variability in the symptoms and objective visual outcomes after surgery. Conclusions: Inadvertent macular translocation can occur following repair of macula-off retinal detachment, and may be a significant contributor to poorer visual outcome after retinal detachment, despite objective surgical succes s.5 page(s

Complications with fluorescein angiography : a prospective study

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Acute idiopathic maculopathy with coxsackievirus infection

Purpose: To report a case of visual loss immediately after hand, foot, and mouth disease and demonstrate the high-resolution optical coherence tomography findings. Methods: A retrospective case report of a 19-year-old nursery worker with resolving hand, foot, and mouth disease and acute unilateral visual loss. Results: The clinical features were characteristic of unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy. High-resolution optical coherence tomography demonstrated highly reflective subretinal material at the macula of one eye with disruption of the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction. Vision remained poor for 4 weeks when there was rapid recovery coinciding with reconstitution of the inner segment/outer segment junction on optical coherence tomography. Conclusion: Unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy may be caused by Coxsackievirus infection. Optical coherence tomography and clinical findings suggest an acute viral retinal pigment epitheliitis to be the main pathologic feature.3 page(s

Chronic creatine kinase deficiency eventually leads to congestive heart failure, but severity is dependent on genetic background, gender and age

This work was funded by the British Heart Foundation programme grant RG/10/002/28187. Additional funding for the Visualsonics ultrasound system was provided by the BHF Centre of Research Excellence, Oxford (RE/08/004); for the EchoMRI Body Composition Analyser by the OUP John Fell Fund; and from a Wellcome Trust Core Award, Grant (090532/Z/09/Z). Knockout mice were originally generated and gifted by Prof Bé Wieringa, Department of Cell Biology, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands