Comparison of different treatment options in submacular haemorrhage.

Background/aims: Submacular haemorrhages (SMH) cause significant visual impairment. Until now, the comparative effectiveness of different treatment approaches remains inconclusive without clear treatment guidelines. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 5 surgical treatment modalities in terms of visual prognosis and success rate.

Ab Externo Choroidal Fluid Drainage, Pars Plana Vitrectomy, and Endotamponade for the Management of Persistent Hypotony following Glaucoma Surgery.

Background: Persistent severe serous choroidal detachment is a rare complication after glaucoma surgery. Surgical treatment with choroidal fluid drainage through a scleral incision is an option in these cases. Combining this procedure with pars plana vitrectomy and gas endotamponade has potential advantages.

Keratoconus Progression Determined at the First Visit: A Deep Learning Approach With Fusion of Imaging and Numerical Clinical Data.

Purpose: Multiple clinical visits are necessary to determine progression of keratoconus before offering corneal cross-linking. The purpose of this study was to develop a neural network that can potentially predict progression during the initial visit using tomography images and other clinical risk factors.

Methods: The neural network's development depended on data from 570 keratoconus eyes.

Conditions for modifying intraocular lenses as drug carriers for methotrexate using poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid).

Introduction: The intraocular lens (IOL) can be used as a slow-release drug carrier in cataract surgery to alleviate posterior capsular opacification (PCO). The following is a systematic development of an IOL using methotrexate and the solvent casting process with poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as a carrier polymer.

Methods: Different solvents for PLGA and methotrexate were tested for dissolution properties and possible damage to the IOL.

The Use of Corneoscleral Grafts to Maintain Tectonic Stability in Severe Keratolysis.

Severe corneal ulcerations, causing major keratolysis with large perforation of the cornea or extending to the limbal region, are an ophthalmic emergency. In these cases, a larger corneoscleral graft can be transplanted to restore tectonic integrity, alleviate pain, save vision, and prevent loss of the eye. Chart review of 34 patients with a corneoscleral graft ≥9.

Successful treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa keratitis with meropenem eye drops - a case report.

Background: This case report describes the course and therapeutic management of a fast-spreading bacterial keratitis caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa).

Case Presentation: A 27-year-old male contact lens wearer presented with a multi-resistant, fast spreading P.

Influence of endotamponade on anterior chamber depth and refractive outcome after combined phacovitrectomy: case-control study.

Purpose: To compare the changes in the anterior chamber depth (ACD) and in the refractive outcomes after combined phacovitrectomy with respect to the endotamponade (balanced salt solution, air, sulfur hexafluoride [SF 6 , gas]).

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany.

Design: Retrospective, longitudinal case-control study.

The role of the calcofluor white staining in the diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

Purpose: Acanthamoeba keratitis is often misdiagnosed at disease onset. This study presents data to confirm the diagnosis using calcofluor white (CFW) staining.

Methods: Forty three patients were retrospectively included who presented to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Ulm with keratitis between 2000 and 2022.

Epiretinal Amniotic Membrane in Complicated Retinal Detachment: a Clinical and In Vitro Safety Assessment.

Introduction: Amniotic membrane (AM) is a popular treatment for external ocular diseases. First intraocular implantations in other diseases reported promising results. Here, we review three cases of intravitreal epiretinal human AM (iehAM) transplantation as an adjunct treatment for complicated retinal detachment and analyze clinical safety.

Pharmacological Therapy of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy: Systematic Comparison of 36 Pharmacological Agents.

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is currently treated surgically. Reliable pharmaceutical options would be desirable, and numerous drugs have been proposed. This study is intended to systematically compare and determine the most promising candidates for the treatment of PVR.

Recurrence of perforation and overall patient survival after penetrating keratoplasty versus amniotic membrane transplantation in corneal perforation.

Purpose: The following is a comparative analysis on the treatment outcomes of corneal perforations using amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) or penetrating keratoplasty (PK).

Methods: This monocentric retrospective study was performed at the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Ulm, Germany. A total of 78 eyes of 78 patients were included.

Inhibition of proliferative vitreoretinopathy by a newly developed methotrexate loaded drug carrier in vitro.

Purpose: Repeated intravitreal injections of methotrexate for proliferative vitreoretinopathy, a rare ocular condition that can cause vision loss, have shown beneficial effects in recent clinical studies. The purpose of this study was to develop a slow-release, long-term drug carrier composed of the polymer polylactide-co-glycolide and methotrexate that can be injected intravitreally.

Methods: The required composition of the drug carrier was modeled using pharmacokinetic parameters based on current literature.

Pharmacological drug screening to inhibit uveal melanoma metastatic cells either EGF-R, MAPK, mTOR or PI3K.

Aim: To screen five potential pharmacological substances specifically targeting EGF-R, MAPK, mTOR, or PI3K for their antiproliferative effects, possible impact on cell viability, as well as cell death rates on three different uveal melanoma metastasis cell lines .

Methods: Three different uveal melanoma metastasis cell lines (OMM2.5, OMM2.

Anti-angiogenic properties of rapamycin on human retinal pericytes in an in vitro model of neovascular AMD via inhibition of the mTOR pathway.

Purpose: Choroidal neovascularizations (CNV) are partially stabilized through a coverage of pericytes leading to a partial anti-VEGF resistence. Drugs licensed for neovascular AMD (nAMD) do not take this mechanical and growth factor-driven CNV stability into account. The purpose of this work was to see if inhibiting the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) may successfully block angiogenic cellular pathways in primary human retinal pericytes in an in vitro model of nAMD.

Galectin-1 and -3 in high amounts inhibit angiogenic properties of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells in vitro.

Purpose: Galectin-1 and -3 are β-galactoside binding lectins with varying effects on angiogenesis and apoptosis. Since in retinal pigment epithelial cells high amounts of human recombinant galectin (hr-GAL)1 and 3 inhibit cell adhesion, migration and proliferation, we investigated if hr-GAL1 and 3 have homologous effects on human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMEC) in vitro.

Methods: To investigate the effect of galectin-1 and -3 on HRMEC, proliferation, apoptosis and viability were analyzed after incubation with 30, 60 and 120 μg/ml hr-GAL1 or 3 by BrdU-ELISA, histone-DNA complex ELISA, live/dead staining and the WST-1 assay, respectively.

In vitro evaluation of simulated stereotactic radiotherapy for wet age-related macular degeneration on three different cell lines.

Low energy stereotactic radiotherapy has been proposed for the treatment of neovascular age related macular degeneration. We investigated the in vitro effect of the radiotherapy on pericytes, retinal pigment epithelium and endothelial cells. Primary human retinal pigment epithelium cells, human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human pericytes from Placenta were cultivated.

Arginine as an Enhancer in Rose Bengal Photosensitized Corneal Crosslinking.

Purpose: Oxygen-independent cornea crosslinking (CXL) using rose bengal (RB) and green light may have unique clinical applications. These studies were designed to gain insight into the arginine (arg)-enhanced anaerobic crosslinking process, to maximize crosslinking efficiency, and to test a clinically feasible method for oxygen-free CXL.

Methods: Rabbit corneas were treated ex vivo using 1 mM RB and 532 nm light.

Establishing an objective biomarker for corneal cystinosis using a threshold-based Spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging algorithm.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to establish a semi-automated threshold-based image segmentation algorithm to detect and objectively quantify corneal cystine crystal deposition in ocular cystinosis with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT).

Methods: This prospective, observational, comparative study included 88 eyes of 45 patients from the German Cystinosis Registry Study as well as 68 eyes of 35 healthy control subjects. All eyes were imaged with AS-OCT (Cirrus HD-OCT 5000, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany).

Corneal Stromal Filler Injection as a Novel Approach to Correct Presbyopia-An Pilot Study.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of corneal stromal filler injection to create bifocality to correct presbyopia by flattening the central posterior corneal surface and thus increase refractive power.

Methods: Femtosecond laser-assisted corneal stromal pockets of varying diameters close to the posterior corneal curvature were cut into rabbit eyes . Subsequently, hyaluronic acid was injected to flatten the central posterior curvature.

Stromal Nerve Imaging and Tracking Using Micro-Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: To image, track and map the nerve fiber distribution in excised rabbit corneas over the entire stromal thickness using micro-optical coherence tomography (µOCT) to develop a screening tool for early peripheral neuropathy.

Methods: Excised rabbit corneas were consecutively imaged by a custom-designed µOCT prototype and a commercial laser scanning fluorescence confocal microscope. The µOCT images with a field of view of approximately 1 × 1 mm were recorded with axial and transverse resolutions of approximately 1 µm and approximately 4 µm, respectively.

Corneal optical density in Fuchs endothelial dystrophy determined by anterior segment optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: In this study, we propose a method to grade corneal stromal opacity using optical density measurements by anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and validate the approach in Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD).

Methods: A retrospective analysis of human corneal OCT scans was performed on 48 eyes of 32 patients with FECD and 33 control eyes of 21 patients using the Carl Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT 5000. In addition, corneal edema in fresh rabbit cadaver eyes was artificially induced by distilled water and imaged with the Thorlabs TELESTO-II spectral domain OCT at different time points during saturation.

Refractive Changes After Corneal Stromal Filler Injection for the Correction of Hyperopia.

Purpose: To evaluate a new non-ablative and adjustable procedure for laser ablative refractive corneal surgery in hyperopia using the injection of a biocompatible liquid filler material into a stromal pocket.

Methods: A total of 120 stromal pockets were created using a clinical femtosecond laser system in 96 rabbit corneoscleral discs and 24 whole globes. Pockets were cut at a depth of 120 or 250 µm below the epithelial surface.

Supercritical fluid technology for the development of innovative ophthalmic medical devices: Drug loaded intraocular lenses to mitigate posterior capsule opacification.

Supercritical impregnation technology was applied to load acrylic intraocular lenses (IOLs) with methotrexate to produce a sustained drug delivery device to mitigate posterior capsule opacification. Drug release kinetics were studied in vitro and used to determine the drug loading. Loaded IOLs and control IOLs treated under the same operating conditions, but without drug, were implanted ex vivo in human donor capsular bags.

Evaluation of posterior capsule opacification of the Alcon Clareon IOL vs the Alcon Acrysof IOL using a human capsular bag model.

Background: Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) after cataract surgery is influenced by intraocular lens (IOL) design and material. The following is an ex vivo comparison of PCO between the Clareon vs. the AcrySof IOL in human capsular bags.

Cytoprotective effect of crocin and trans-resveratrol on photodamaged primary human retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Purpose: Light-induced damage to retinal pigment epithelium during pars plana vitrectomy remains a hot topic in ophthalmology. Improvements in technology led to a change of light sources, selective filters, and shorter light exposure time. Currently, there is no satisfying solution to the problem.