Full-thickness macular hole associated with congenital simple hamartoma of retinal pigment epithelium (CSHRPE)

Purpose: To report a unique case of congenital simple hamartoma of retinal pigment epithelium (CSHRPE) associated with full-thickness macular hole (FTMH). Methods: A 14-year-old female with a previous diagnosis of simple hamartoma of retinal pigment epithelium in the left eye presented with a 3-week onset of reduced visual acuity in the same eye. Complete ophthalmological examination with spectral domain ocular coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and autofluorescence imaging was carried out. Results were compared with the last 4-year follow-up data. Results: On examination, visual acuity in the left eye was counting fingers compared to 20/100 documented in the last follow-up. Fundoscopy revealed a nodular, heavily pigmented, circumscribed foveal mass, with 0.5 mm basal diameter and 1.1 mm thickness corresponding to the simple RPE hamartoma. Although the latter remained unchanged throughout the follow-up period, a new lesion at the inferior edge of the hamartoma was noted. SD-OCT confirmed the presence of a FTMH with no evidence of associated epiretinal membrane, vitreomacular traction or posterior vitreous detachment. After explaining the risks and benefits of vitrectomy for FTMH, the patient declined surgery. Conclusions: CSHRPE may have associated features such as feeding vessels, retinal surface wrinkling, pigmented vitreous cells, retinal exudation and vitreoretinal adhesion. The case presented herein broadens the clinical spectrum of CSHRPE and emphasizes that despite the benign nature of the lesion, which remains stable without growth, visual loss may occur, attributable to foveal traction and development of FTMH. We postulate that protrusion of the tumor into the vitreous cavity results in tissue stretching and development of anteroposterior and tangential forces which may lead to development of macular hole. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Ranibizumab for the treatment of degenerative ocular conditions

Magdalini Triantafylla,1 Horace F Massa,2 Doukas Dardabounis,1 Zisis Gatzioufas,2 Vassilios Kozobolis,1 Konstantinos Ioannakis,1 Irfan Perente,1,3 Georgios D Panos1,21Department of Ophthalmology, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, School of Medicine, University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Geneva University Hospitals, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland; 3Beyoglou Eye Research and Teaching Hospital, Istanbul University, Istanbul, TurkeyAbstract: Degenerative ocular conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, and myopic degeneration, have become a major public health problem and a leading cause of blindness in developed countries. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs seem to be an effective and safe treatment for these conditions. Ranibizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody antigen-binding fragment, which inhibits all biologically active isoforms of VEGF-A, is still the gold standard treatment for the majority of these pathological entities. In this review, we present the results of the most important clinical trials concerning the efficacy and safety of ranibizumab for the treatment of degenerative ocular conditions.Keywords: age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, retinal vein occlusion, anti-VEGF, safety, efficacy, quality of lif

A Modified Surgical Technique to Treat Strabismus in Complete Sixth Nerve Palsy.

INTRODUCTION: A lot of different techniques have been proposed in order to manage abduction limitation secondary to sixth nerve palsy; however, anterior segment ischemia remains a concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of augmented vertical recti muscle transposition (VRT) with partial recession of medial rectus muscle (MR) for complete, chronic sixth nerve palsy, a new modified technique that could also minimize the risk for anterior segment ischemia (ASI). METHODS: In this nonrandomized 8-year (2009-2017) retrospective review, 20 patients with complete sixth nerve palsy and contracted MR were enrolled. All of them underwent augmented VRT and partial recession of the MR, following a new proposed surgical technique. Only the central part of the MR tendon and belly was recessed by 6.5 mm, leaving 1.5 mm of the upper pole and 1.5 mm of the lower pole of the muscle intact, preserving the circulation of two anterior ciliary arteries. RESULTS: Twenty patients with a mean age of 43 years (range 12-71), all unilateral cases, were enrolled in this study. The mean preoperative deviation was 64.25 ± 10.9 prism diopters (PD) base out (range 50 to 90). In 17 cases (88%), the postoperative deviation was within 10 PD of orthotropia. Two patients (10%) had residual esotropia (15 PD and 20 PD, respectively), and one patient (5%) had 10 PD of hypotropia. The mean preoperative abduction limitation of -5.9 improved to -3.1 (p < 0.0001). None of the cases presented with ASI (success rate 100%). CONCLUSION: Partial recession of the MR preserving the two anterior ciliary arteries (Kozeis modified technique) with augmented vertical recti muscle transposition is an effective procedure, with a high success rate and is probably less risky for ASI