Purpose:

To compare three different treatment modalities for traumatic corneal abrasions.

Methods:

We conducted a prospective, randomized, masked, three-arm clinical study of patients presenting with superficial corneal foreign bodies. Treatment modalities were: (1) pressure patching with ofloxacin ointment (patch group, PG, n = 18), (2) therapeutic contact lens with ofloxacin eye drops (contact lens group, CLG, n = 20) and (3) ofloxacin ointment alone (ointment group, OG, n = 28). Primary outcome measure was the difference of the mean corneal abrasion area between the three groups at 3 different time points (baseline, day 1 and day 7).

Results:

A total of 66 patients were included in the study over a period of 2 years. Mean initial corneal abrasion area was 3.6 ± 3.4 mm(2) in the PG, 4.2 ± 4.0 mm(2) in the CLG and 3.7 ± 3.1 mm(2) in the OG (p = 0.875). Differences in corneal abrasion area at any time point were not statistically significant (abrasion area decrease from presentation to day 1 was 3.4 ± 3.3 mm(2) in the PG, 4.1 ± 4.0 mm(2) in the CLG and 3.5 ± 3.1 mm(2) in the OG, p = 0.789). The epithelium was healed in all patients at day 7.

Conclusions:

Treating traumatic corneal abrasions by pressure patching, a bandage contact lens or ointment alone was equal in reducing the abrasion area or reducing pain. According to our results the treatment of choice for traumatic abrasions may be adapted to the needs and preferences of the patient.

Background/Aims:

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) has been shown to mediate a broad range of biological processes via CXCR4, once regarded as its only receptor. CXCR7 is a recently identified receptor for SDF-1. This study aimed to investigate whether the CXCR7/CXCR4/SDF-1 axis is involved in choroidal neovascularization (CNV) formation in an in vitro hypoxic model.

Methods:

CXCR7 siRNA and/or CXCR4 siRNA was transfected into a hypoxic model of the choroid-retinal endothelial RF/6A cell line. CCK-8 analysis, transwell migration analysis, annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide staining, and Matrigel tube formation analysis were performed to investigate the role of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in SDF-1-induced proliferation, migration, survival and tube formation of RF/6A cells.

Results:

CXCR4, but not CXCR7, mediates SDF-1-induced RF/6A cell migration and proliferation under hypoxic conditions, whereas CXCR7 was exclusively involved in RF/6A cell survival. In addition, CXCR7 and CXCR4 acted together to regulate RF/6A cell tube formation.

Conclusion:

The CXCR7/CXCR4/SDF-1 axis plays an important role in the formation of CNV, and may become a novel target for the treatment of CNV-associated diseases.

Purpose:

To compare tear film osmolarity (TFO) between patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and normal healthy individuals.

Methods:

In this prospective case-controlled study, the TFO in 46 normal subjects (control group) and 55 patients with DM (study group) was evaluated. TFO in milliosmole (mOsm) was measured by using an auto-osmometer. The serum levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and blood glucose in all participants were also measured. Mean outcome measures were TFO and its relationship with HbA1c level and duration of DM.

Results:

Mean TFO was 320.40 ± 21.80 mOsm/l in the study group and 308.22 ± 18.16 mOsm/l in the control group (p < 0.001). The TFO values were significantly associated with duration of DM (r = 0.476, p < 0.001), but no significant correlation was found with HbA1c level (r = 0.225, p = 0.114).

Conclusions:

The study shows a significantly higher TFO in patients with DM than in the healthy controls. TFO also correlates with the duration of DM.

Retinal vascular occlusive disorders constitute one of the major causes of blindness and impaired vision. There is marked controversy on their pathogeneses, clinical features and particularly their management. Recently, advances in clinical research added antivascular endothelial growth factor, corticosteroids and sustained-release implants to our armamentarium in the management of retinal vein occlusions. The purpose of our paper is to provide an update and a brief review on the current treatment options of retinal vein occlusions.

Objective:

To compare the success rates of two surgical methods of endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) at the stage of ostium creation. In procedure 1, a Colorado needle is used to create the mucosectomy, while in procedure 2 no heated instruments are applied to the mucosa.

Methods:

A total of 173 patients (218 eyes) underwent endonasal DCR between 2006 and 2009. Efficacy was assessed by a fluorescein endoscopic test at 6 months of follow-up.

Results:

The success rate in group 2 was higher than in group 1 (91 vs. 81%, p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

We have found a significant difference, which supports that a 'cold' surgical technique may be better than the use of heated instruments.

Background/Aims:

The aim of this paper is to report the treatment of type 2 nonproliferative idiopathic macular telangiectasia (IMT) with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB).

Methods:

Retrospective case series of 10 eyes of 5 patients with type 2 IMT. All patients received 3 monthly IVB injections. Visual acuity (VA), fluorescein angiography (FA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed at baseline and 4 weeks after each injection.

Results:

Four weeks after the third IVB injection, VA remained stable for all patients. All eyes showed some decrease in fluorescein leakage, and there was a mild decrease in central macular thickness. One year later, VA, OCT and FA findings returned to the baseline levels.

Conclusion:

IVB did not improve VA in cases of type 2 IMT.

Aims:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the cicatricial repair of a corneal artificial perforation in rats with 10-0 nylon suture, N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBCA) adhesive, or NBCA + methacryloxysulfolane (NBCA-MS) adhesive through microscopic and histological assays.

Methods:

Twenty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups each containing 5 rats: (1) control group (corneal trauma without suturing and tissue adhesives), (2) suture group, (3) NBCA group and (4) NBCA-MS group. A central full-thickness 2-mm laceration was performed in the left eyes of the studied rats in all 4 groups. The presence of corneal edema, corneal neovascularization and tissue adhesive/suture were evaluated. On the 21st day, the rats were sacrificed and histological examination was performed to determine irregularity of corneal layers, superficial epithelization, polymorphonuclear leucocytes and neovascularization.

Results:

Tissue adhesives were as effective as suturing in closing full-thickness corneal wounds and no difference in postoperative healing was observed clinically. As for the histological results, suture-treated eyes had persistent corneal irregularity that can limit visual acuity and may also lead to astigmatism.

Conclusions:

The use of tissue adhesives constitutes a viable alternative clinical procedure to conventional sutures. Possible influences on astigmatism are hypothetical, as no objective measure of astigmatism was performed in the test animals.

Purpose:

To evaluate the diagnostic value of microperimetry (MP), blue-on-yellow perimetry (B/YP), confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph, HRT, III) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in discriminating eyes with early glaucoma from healthy subjects. Material and

Methods:

Prospective examination of 22 eyes of subjects with early primary open-angle glaucoma and 24 eyes of healthy control subjects. After a complete ophthalmological examination, B/YP, MP, OCT and HRT III were determined. Morphological and functional parameters were analysed.

Results:

Mean sensitivity threshold values obtained with B/YP and MP did not show significant differences between glaucoma patients and the control group (p = 0.321 and p = 0.281). Retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness was significantly decreased in patients with glaucoma with both HRT III and OCT (p = 0.018 and p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

While B/YP and MP had no ability to discriminate between subjects with early glaucoma and healthy subjects, RNFL thickness measured with HRT III and OCT showed a significant difference. In early primary open-angle glaucoma, morphological changes like RNFL thickness seem to occur prior to functional defects in the visual field.

Background:

Epithelial basement membrane dystrophy (EBMD) is by far the most common corneal dystrophy. In this study, we used a newly developed method of immunofluorescence staining and imaging to study the entire corneal nerve architecture of a donor with unilateral EBMD. Method: Two fresh eyes from a 56-year-old male donor were obtained; the right eye of the donor was diagnosed with EBMD and the left was normal. After slit lamp examination, the corneas were immunostained with anti-β-tubulin III antibody. Images were recorded by a fluorescent microscope equipped with a Photometrics digital camera using MetaVue imaging software.

Results:

The left cornea appeared normal as observed by slit lamp and stereomicroscope, but the right eye had numerous irregular geographic patches in the basement membrane. Immunofluorescence showed no difference in the stromal nerve distribution between the 2 eyes, but there were areas without innervations in the EBMD cornea. Subbasal nerve fibers also showed tortuous courses and fewer divisions. There was a significant decrease in the density of subbasal nerve fibers and the number of terminals in the right eye.

Conclusion:

We show for the first time detailed nerve architecture in an EBMD cornea. Our results suggest that EBMD-induced abnormalities of basement membrane altered epithelial nerve architecture and decreased nerve density, contributing to the pathology of the disease.

To evaluate a possible association between the complement factor H (CFH) Y402H polymorphism and susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Tunisian population, as well as the impact of the genotype distribution among different phenotypes and the response to treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab, exon 9 of CFH was analyzed for the Y402H polymorphism by direct sequencing in 135 healthy controls and 127 sporadic unrelated AMD patients classified into the following groups: 12 atrophic AMD (group G1), 115 exudative AMD (G2) and 10 AMD patients who had fibrovascular scarring (G3) that did not allow a precise grading of the phenotype. Seventy patients in G2 were treated with 1.25 mg intravitreal bevacizumab at 6-week intervals until choroidal neovascularization (CNV) was no longer active. The frequency of the CFH 402H allele was significantly higher in AMD patients than in controls (p = 2.62 × 10(-16)). However, subgroup analysis does not reveal any association between the variant allele H and phenotypes of AMD or CNV. Also, there was no significant difference in response to bevacizumab treatment according to Y402H CFH genotype (p = 0.59). A strong association of the 402H allele with susceptibility to AMD in the Tunisian population was confirmed; however, this variant does not appear to be involved in the clinical progression of this disease or in the postintravitreal bevacizumab response.