Predicting the risk of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients.

Aims: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is often asymptomatic even in its more advanced stages. Timely and repeated screening for DR avoids a late diagnosis of DR, but the high number of diabetic patients precludes a frequent screening; thus, the need for a method to identify patients at higher risk for DR becomes crucial.

Methods: A prospective analysis of 5034 type 2 diabetic patients followed from 1996 to 2007 and not affected by retinopathy at the time of the recruitment was performed.

Intraocular pressure changes following the use of silicone oil or Densiron 68 as endotamponade in pars plana vitrectomy.

Objective: To compare the effects of standard silicone oil 5700 (SSO) and heavy silicone oil (HSO) such as Densiron(®) 68 on intraocular pressure (IOP).

Materials And Methods: Retrospective case series including 180 eyes (105 treated with SSO and 75 with HSO). IOP was measured before surgery, 1 day after, and then at 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups.

Ocular manifestations in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Rendu-Osler-Weber disease): a case-series.

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Rendu-Osler-Weber disease) is an autosomal dominant vascular disorder characterized by severe and recurrent nosebleeds, muco-cutaneous telangiectasias, and, in some cases, life-threatening visceral arteriovenous malformations. Ocular abnormalities include conjunctival telangiectasia, arteriovenous fistula, angiectasia, phlebectasia, and angioma.

Material And Methods: We describe the ocular abnormalities in 8 patients from a pedigree with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

Combined photodynamic therapy and intravitreal bevacizumab for idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: one-year follow-up.

Objective: To report the efficacy and safety of combined photodynamic therapy (PDT) and intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection in the treatment of idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (IPCV).

Material And Methods: A prospective case series of 10 eyes of 10 consecutive patients affected by IPCV with subfoveal involvement. PDT plus IVB (1.

Trisomy 1q42-qter associated with monosomy 6q27-qter: a case report.

Purpose: Partial trisomy 1q42-qter is a rare chromosomal aberration. Most cases arise from de novo unbalanced translocations or from unbalanced inheritance of parental balanced rearrangements.

Methods: Descriptive case report.

Pharmacogenetic aspects in therapeutic management of subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation: role of factor XIII-A 185 T-allele.

In Western Countries, the occurrence of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to different forms of macular degeneration represents a common cause of blindness. Particularly, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and pathologic myopia (PM) are the most frequent diseases related to CNV development. At present, the combined employment of drugs acting against vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) and photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT-V) is a promising therapeutic strategy for neovascular macular degenerations.

Age related macular degeneration and visual disability.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central blindness or low vision among the elderly in industrialized countries. AMD is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Among modifiable environmental risk factors, cigarette smoking has been associated with both the dry and wet forms of AMD and may increase the likelihood of worsening pre-existing AMD.

Inflammatory mediators and angiogenic factors in choroidal neovascularization: pathogenetic interactions and therapeutic implications.

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a common and severe complication in heterogeneous diseases affecting the posterior segment of the eye, the most frequent being represented by age-related macular degeneration. Although the term may suggest just a vascular pathological condition, CNV is more properly definable as an aberrant tissue invasion of endothelial and inflammatory cells, in which both angiogenesis and inflammation are involved. Experimental and clinical evidences show that vascular endothelial growth factor is a key signal in promoting angiogenesis.

Impact of coagulation-balance gene predictors on efficacy of photodynamic therapy for choroidal neovascularization in pathologic myopia.

Purpose: To investigate whether different coagulation-balance genetic backgrounds might explain the variable clinical outcomes detected, after a single photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT-V), in Caucasian patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (PM).

Design: Retrospective, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional cases series.

Participants: Two hundred thirty-four patients exclusively treated with standardized PDT-V for the presence of PM-related classic CNV.

Sutureless human sclera donor patch graft for Ahmed glaucoma valve.

Purpose: To report the safety and effectiveness of a sutureless human sclera donor patch graft covering the subconjunctival portion of glaucoma drainage implant tube to prevent its erosion throughout the overlying conjunctiva.

Methods: This was a prospective pilot study. Fifteen eyes of 15 consecutive patients not responsive to medical and to not-implant surgical glaucoma treatment underwent Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implant surgery with sutureless human sclera donor patch graft.

Low fluence rate photodynamic therapy combined with intravitreal bevacizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Aims: To report the efficacy and safety of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) alone versus IVB plus low-fluence photodynamic therapy (PDT) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients and to verify the occurrence of a synergistic effect of the combined approach on visual acuity, size and morphology of lesion, as well as on the treatment rate.

Method: Prospective comparative interventional study on 85 patients with treatment-naive classic, or predominantly classic, subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation secondary to AMD. Patients were randomly assigned to group 1 (IVB injections) and group 2 (IVB plus low fluence PDT).

Intravitreal bevacizumab for treatment-naive patients with subfoveal occult choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration: a 12-month follow-up study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the 12-month efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection for occult choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: In this retrospective, interventional case series, 68 treatment-naïve patients with age-related macular degeneration, affected by subfoveal occult choroidal neovascularization showing recent disease progression, were monitored during the IVB protocol. The patients received 1 initial IVB injection (1.

Pharmacotherapy of intraocular pressure - part II. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, prostaglandin analogues and prostamides.

The second part of this two part review (please see Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy 10(16)) reports the characteristics of other antiglaucoma medications: systemic (acetazomide) and topical (dorzolamide and brinzolamide) carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, which suppress aqueous humour formation; and prostaglandin analogues (latanoprost and travoprost) and prostamides (bimatoprost), which raise aqueous humour outflow. The pharmacologic properties of each compound and its efficacy in the medical treatment of glaucoma, mainly the primary open-angle form, are discussed briefly, focusing on the clinical evidence supporting their use.

Epiretinal membrane in a 12-year-old immunocompetent girl with cytomegalovirus infection.

Purpose: To report the case of a 12-year-old immunocompetent girl presenting bilateral epiretinal membrane formation in conjunction with systemic human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection.

Methods: The patient had a sudden onset of blurred vision and floaters in both eyes. Her medical history was unremarkable, except for allergic asthma that she had had for several years and that she was treating with inhaler corticosteroids prescribed by her pediatrician.

Pharmacotherapy of intraocular pressure: part I. Parasympathomimetic, sympathomimetic and sympatholytics.

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) has been recognized as the major risk factor for the development of glaucoma and a wide range of options are now available to reduce it: medical treatment, laser, filtering, or cyclodestructive surgery (alone or in combination). All these modalities act by decreasing eye pressure and, thereby, protecting the optic nerve head from a mechanic direct and/or vascular indirect insult. Topical medical therapy represents the first-choice treatment and, in most cases, it effectively controls IOP, avoiding the occurrence of further optic nerve damage.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: a review of its effects on intraocular pressure.

The increase in serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission is considered to be one of the most efficacious medical approach to depression and its related disorders. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) represent the most widely antidepressive drugs utilized in the medical treatment of depressed patients. Currently available SSRIs include fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram and escitalopram.

Predictive role of gene polymorphisms affecting thrombin-generation pathway in variable efficacy of photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) represents the leading cause of central blindness in developed countries. The majority of severe vision loss occurs in the neovascular form of AMD, generally characterized by the presence of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) beneath the fovea. Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT-V) and drugs acting against vascular endothelial growth factor are the most commonly employed treatments for AMD-related subfoveal CNV.

Changes in neovascular choroidal morphology after intravitreal bevacizumab injection: prospective trial on 156 eyes throughout 12-month follow-up.

Background: To report 12-month follow-up results of 156 eyes treated with anti-VEGF for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and to verify the efficacy of this treatment in terms of functional results and changes of morphology of choroidal membrane for the different types of choroidal neovascularization analyzed.

Methods: This prospective case series study included subjects with different forms of subfoveal CNV. After the first intravitreal injection of 1.