Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK): visual outcome and complications for a heterogeneous group of corneal pathologies.

Purpose: To review the visual outcome and complications of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK), using Melles technique.

Methods: All patients undergoing DALK between December 1999 and March 2005 were routinely entered into a longitudinal study. DALK was attempted in 80 eyes of 68 consecutive patients.

Capabilities of potential vision test measurements: clinical evaluation in the presence of cataract or macular disease.

Purpose: To determine the usefulness of a battery of potential vision tests (PVTs) including potential acuity meter (PAM), laser interferometer (LI), critical flicker/fusion frequency (CFF), superilluminated pinhole at distance (SPH(d)) and near (SPH(n)), and optimal reading speed (ORS) by their independence of the effects of cataracts and sensitivity to macular disease (MD).

Setting: Department of Optometry, University of Bradford, Bradford and Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Methods: Potential vision test measurements were determined in 76 patients with age-related cataract and no other eye disease, 52 patients with MD and clear ocular media, and 28 patients with normal, healthy eyes.

Improving subjective scaling of pain using Rasch analysis.

Unlabelled: Pain management outcomes assessment depends on valid measurement of pain. However, the validity of single-item scales, such as numeric or faces scales, with the assignment of ordinal numerical values to response scale categories, is questionable. The universal assumption that equal distances between response choices represent equal distances on the dimension being measured is essentially erroneous.

Effect of cataract surgery incision location and intraocular lens type on ocular aberrations.

Purpose: To determine whether Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensing detects differences in optical performance in vivo between poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and foldable acrylic intraocular lenses (IOLs) and between clear corneal and scleral tunnel incisions and whether optical differences are manifested as differences in visual performance.

Setting: Department of Optometry, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Methods: This study comprised 74 subjects; 17 were phakic with no ocular pathology, 20 had implantation of a Pharmacia 722C PMMA IOL through a scleral tunnel, 21 had implantation of an Alcon AcrySof IOL through a scleral tunnel, and 16 had implantation of an AcrySof IOL through a corneal incision.

Development of a critical flicker/fusion frequency test for potential vision testing in media opacities.

Purpose: To determine whether critical flicker/fusion (CFF) thresholds fulfill the criteria for a potential vision test (PVT) by being unaffected by media opacity yet affected by retinal disease.

Methods: CFF thresholds for three different stimulus sizes (0.5, 1.