Relationship between age and peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness: An optical coherence tomography study

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between age and peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in healthy Chinese subjects. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Regional hospital, Hong Kong. Participants: Healthy volunteers (n=218) of Chinese ethnicity with spherical equivalent of -6 to +4 dioptres were recruited for study from October 2001 to March 2003. Ocular examination was carried out and measurements of peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness were performed using optical coherence tomography (Carl Zeiss Humphrey OCT 2 machine), in a circular pattern of 3.4 mm diameter, centred on the optic disc. Main outcome measures: Mean retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and age. Results: The mean age was 40 (standard deviation, 17; range, 11-69) years. The mean peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness was 111.6 (standard deviation, 18.5; range, 52.0-155.0) μm. Age correlated significantly with peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (r= -0.28, P<0.0001). Conclusion: Mean peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (based on optical coherence tomography) correlates negatively with age, which can interfere with the assessment and monitoring of glaucoma patients. An age-adjusted normogram may be necessary to interpret results.published_or_final_versio

Recurrent and consecutive non-arteritic optic neuropathy in a patient with protein S deficiency

A 50-year-old man with a history of protein S deficiency treated by long-term warfarin presented with right non-arteritic optic neuropathy. Following successful augmentation of warfarin to minimise the effect of thrombophilia, he had a recurrence in the right eye and involvement of the left eye 11 days after the initial onset. Further investigation showed a marginal blood lipid profile, which was treated with lipid-lowering agents. A combination of aetiologies was seen in this patient. Other unique factors, such as the short duration to recurrence and involvement of the fellow eye, are discussed.published_or_final_versio

Predisposing factors, microbial characteristics and clinical outcome of microbial keratitis in Hong Kong: a 10-year experience

The World Cornea Congress (WCC-7) will be held immediately preceding the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium and Congresspostprin

The use of optical coherence tomography in the assessment of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy

This review was performed to assess the use of optical coherence tomography in diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy and its application in the diagnosis and management of these conditions. A comprehensive literature search on MEDLINE was performed for studies published until 2013 with key words 'diabetes mellitus', 'optical coherence tomography', 'diabetic retinopathy', 'diabetic maculopathy', 'intersessional repeatability', 'diurnal variation' , 'fundus autofluorescence' and 'treatment'. Search results were limited to studies published in English and in human subjects only. The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study established the current standard of care for diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy with the diagnosis based on slit-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, and fluorescein angiography. There has been a recent shift to the use of optical coherence tomography in the qualitative and quantitative assessment of such diseases. Furthermore, the advancement of optical coherence tomography from time-domain to spectraldomain technology allows us to visualize pathological changes of diabetic maculopathy in details in different retinal layers. Such observed changes have been used to establish new classifications of diabetic maculopathy. The high sensitivity and quantitative nature of optical coherence tomography make it a highly popular modality used extensively to monitor disease progression and efficacy of new treatment modalities. Optical coherence tomography plays a crucial role in the modern clinical management of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy. Its use has revolutionized the understanding and management of these eye diseases.published_or_final_versio

Predictors of success in selective laser trabeculoplasty for primary open angle glaucoma in Chinese

2014-2015 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

The role of disease characteristics in the ethical debate on personal genome testing

Background: Companies are currently marketing personal genome tests directly-to-consumer that provide genetic susceptibility testing for a range of multifactorial diseases simultaneously. As these tests comprise multiple risk analyses for multiple diseases, they may be difficult to evaluate. Insight into morally relevant differences between diseases will assist researchers, healthcare professionals, policy-makers and other stakeholders in the ethical evaluation of personal genome tests. Discussion. In this paper, we identify and discuss four disease characteristics - severity, actionability, age of onset, and the somatic/psychiatric nature of disease - and show how these lead to specific ethical issues. By way of illustration, we apply this framework to genetic susceptibility testing for three diseases: type 2 diabetes, age-related macular degeneration and clinical depression. For these three diseases, we point out the ethical issues that are relevant to the question whether it is morally justifiable to offer genetic susceptibility testing to adults or to children or minors, and on what conditions. Summary. We conclude that the ethical evaluation of personal genome tests is challenging, for the ethical issues differ with the diseases tested for. An understanding of the ethical significance of disease characteristics will improve the ethical, legal and societal debate on personal genome testing