Strategy for the management of diabetic macular edema: the European Vitreo-Retinal Society macular edema study

Objective. To compare the efficacy of different therapies in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). Design. Nonrandomized, multicenter clinical study. Participants. 86 retina specialists from 29 countries provided clinical information on 2,603 patients with macular edema including 870 patients with DME. Methods. Reported data included the type and number of treatment(s) performed, the pre-and posttreatment visual acuities, and other clinical findings.The results were analyzed by the French INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). Main Outcome Measures. Mean change of visual acuity and mean number of treatments performed. Results.The change in visual acuity over time in response to each treatment was plotted in second order polynomial regression trend lines. Intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy resulted in some improvement in vision. Treatmentwith threshold or subthreshold grid laser also resulted in minimal vision gain. Anti-VEGF therapy resulted in more significant visual improvement. Treatment with pars plana vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling alone resulted in an improvement in vision greater than that observed with anti-VEGF injection alone. In our DME study, treatment with vitrectomy and ILM peeling alone resulted in the better visual improvement compared to other therapies

Prevalence of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and Its Effect on Quality of Life and Ocular Discomfort in Patients with Prosthetic Eyes

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of ocular discomfort and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) on quality of life in patients with an ocular prosthesis. Methods: a prospective analysis was conducted on 18 patients with a unilateral ocular prosthesis. Evaluation of ocular discomfort symptoms, lid margin abnormalities (LMA), meibomian gland expression, meibography and a psychometric evaluation using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ), Facial Appearance subscale of the Negative Physical Self Scale (NPSS-F), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the DAS24 to evaluate anxiety and depression. Results: the statistically significant differences observed between normal and prosthetic eyes related to ocular symptoms and the meibography score (p = 0.0003). A negative correlation was reported between NEI VFQ score and meibography score (r = −0.509; p-value = 0.022). A positive correlation was detected with NPSS (r = 0.75; p-value < 0.0001), anxiety HADS score (r = 0.912; p-value = 0.001) and depression HADS score (r = 0.870; p-value > 0.0001). Conclusion: MGD represents the most common cause of evaporative dry eye disease, due to the reduction of the thickness of the lipid layer of the tear film. The occurrence of MGD in patients with prosthetic eyes is very common. Anxiety and depression were correlated to ocular discomfort and MGD, and this could affect the quality of life in patients with an ocular prosthesis

Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography findings in idiopathic lamellar macular hole

BACKGROUND: To evaluate demographic, functional, and morphological parameters of idiopathic lamellar macular hole (ILMH). METHODS: Observational longitudinal retrospective study. Optical coherence tomography examinations and corresponding clinical charts of a series of consecutive patients affected by ILMH, between January 2010 and March 2015, from the database of the Department of Ophthalmology of Trento Hospital, Italy, have been collected and examined. Demographic and functional parameters were: age (year), gender (male/female), eye (right/left), lens status, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMAR). Tomographic parameters were: LMH shape pattern (intraretinal splitting LMH, IR split LMH, and V-shaped LMH, V LMH), posterior vitreous detachment (PVD yes/ PVD no), ERM type (conventional ERM and atypical ERM), integrity of ellipsoid zone (EZ) and external limiting membrane (ELM), residual foveal thickness (RFT) micron (μ), maximal diameter of intraretinal splitting (MDIRS) (μ). RESULTS: One hundred and eighty-nine eyes of 175 patients were included. The mean age was 72.84 ± 9.6, range 41-96 years. BCVA mean was 0.24 ± 0.25, range 0 -1.3 LogMAR. One hundred and forty-one eyes (74.6 %) were affected by IR split LMH, 48 eyes (25.4 %) were affected by V LMH. Every cases of ILMH were associated with ERM: 117 (61.9 %) conventional ERM, 72 (38.1 %) atypical ERM. A significant prevalence of female gender, phakic condition, and PVD in conventional ERM ILMH subgroup (P = 0.000) was found. BCVA mean was better in the conventional ERM ILMH subgroup (P = 0.000). An association between the interruption of the outer retinal layers (EZ and ELM) and atypical ERM ILMH subgroup was highlighted (P = 0.000). The statistical analysis showed a correlation between BCVA and integrity of ELM (P = 0.000). RFT significantly decreased in atypical ERM ILMH subgroup at 24 months compared to time point 0 (P = 0.027). A progressive increase of MDIRS in both subgroups at 12 months and in atypical ERM ILMH subgroup at 24 months (P = 0.007) was highlighted. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that ILMH was not a stable condition, showing morphological changes and an involvement of the outer retinal layers during the 2 years of follow-up