Prospective, Randomized Trial Comparing Simulator-based versus Traditional Teaching of Direct Ophthalmoscopy for Medical Students.

Objective: To compare results of simulator-based vs traditional training of medical students in direct ophthalmoscopy.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Methods: First-year medical student volunteers completed 1 hour of didactic instruction regarding direct ophthalmoscopes, fundus anatomy, and signs of disease.

Bilateral Acquired Progressive Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Myelination.

The authors present the multimodal imaging findings of an unusual case of bilateral acquired progressive myelination of the optic disc during a 10-year follow-up period in a hyperopic adolescent patient in the absence of an underlying ocular or systemic abnormality. Myelination of the left optic disc was noted at age 7 and of the right optic disc at age 13, but no other ocular or systemic abnormalities were identified. Cross-sectional optical coherence tomography (OCT) and en face OCT angiography confirmed the presence of myelination of the retinal nerve fiber layer and excluded other etiologic possibilities including an astrocytic hamartoma.

Mortality after deferral of treatment or no treatment for choroidal melanoma.

Purpose: To report mortality of patients who were eligible for enrollment in the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) clinical trials of medium-sized choroidal melanoma or large-sized choroidal melanoma but chose to defer treatment or receive no melanoma treatment.

Design: Prospective nonrandomized multicenter cohort study as an adjunct to COMS randomized clinical trials.

Methods: Patient follow-up procedures included examinations, correspondence, telephone contacts, and National Death Index searches.