Oral pilocarpine for the treatment of dry eye in patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of oral pilocarpine (20 mg daily) for the treatment of dry eye in patients with Sjogren's Syndrome. The frequency of side effects reported during the treatment was also investigated.

Methods: In this placebo-controlled crossover study, 32 patients with Sjögren's syndrome were enrolled to receive either oral pilocarpine or placebo for 10 weeks.

Primary Pediatric Keratoplasty: Etiology, Graft Survival, and Visual Outcome.

Purpose: Interventional study to evaluate the etiology, visual outcome and survival of corneal transplantation in children and to identify the risk factors associated with graft failure.

Design: Retrospective, interventional consecutive case series.

Methods: Medical records of every child 7 years of age or younger who underwent primary penetrating keratoplasty at Department of Ophthalmology, Federal University of São Paulo were reviewed.

Blau-Jabs Syndrome in a Tertiary Ophthalmologic Center.

In a prospective case series of patients with Blau-Jabs syndrome (BJS) conducted in the Ophthalmology Department/Federal University of Sao Paulo, seven patients with clinical and ophthalmologic manifestations of the disease and a positive genetic test result for the presence of a mutation in the CARD15/NOD2 gene were followed for a minimal period of 1 year. All patients had uveitis, five had nummular corneal subepithelial opacities, and four had multifocal choroiditis. Oral prednisolone was administered to all patients; inflammation was controlled in six patients with at least one immunosuppressive drug.

Ultrasound biomicroscopy after palliative surgical procedures for bullous keratopathy: a descriptive comparative study.

Purpose: To describe quantitative and qualitative features of eyes with advanced bullous keratopathy assessed using ultrasound biomicroscopy, before and after anterior stromal puncture (ASP) or amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) procedures to relieve chronic pain.

Methods: The present descriptive comparative study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with chronic intermittent pain due to bullous keratopathy who were randomly assigned to one of the two treatments (AMT or ASP). Ultrasound biomicroscopy (Humphrey, UBM 840, 50 MHz transducer, immersion technique) was used, and a questionnaire about pain intensity was completed preoperatively and postoperatively at days 90 and 180, respectively.

Induction of corneal collagen cross-linking in experimental corneal alkali burns in rabbits.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of riboflavin-ultraviolet-A-induced cross-linking (CXL) following corneal alkali burns in rabbits. Methods: The right corneas and limbi of ten rabbits were burned using a 1N solution of NaOH and the animals were then divided into two groups: a control group submitted to clinical treatment alone and an experimental group that was treated 1 h after injury with CXL, followed by the same clinical treatment as administered to the controls. Clinical parameters were evaluated post-injury at 1, 7, 15, and 30 days by two independent observers.

Amniotic membrane for reducing the formation of adhesions in strabismus surgery: experimental study in rabbits.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of amniotic membrane in reducing inflammation, fibrosis, adhesion formation, and ocular motility restrictions following strabismus surgery.

Methods: In the first stage of this prospective, randomized study, 17 rabbits underwent superior rectus muscle recession in both eyes. Surgery was performed in the same manner, but human amniotic membrane was placed over the muscle without sutures in the right eye after recession.

[Distribution of infectious keratitis in a tertiary hospital in Brazil].

Purpose: To investigate the seasonality of infectious keratitis in a tertiary hospital in Brazil.

Methods: Charts from the Ocular Microbiology Laboratory of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Federal University of Sao Paulo were reviewed from 2005 to 2009. Infectious keratitis were defined as those with positive culture.

Keratoconus and corneal stability after radial keratectomy in the fellow eye: case report.

Keratoconus has usually been described as bilateral but asymmetric disease. Corneal ectasia is one of the long-term complications of modern refractive surgery, especially those submitted to laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). We describe a patient with keratoconus in the right eye that was submitted to radial keratectomy (RK) in the left eye 19 years ago with no progression of the ectatic cornea and no complications related to the refractive surgery.

Amniotic membrane transplantation versus anterior stromal puncture in bullous keratopathy: a comparative study.

Purpose: To compare amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) and anterior stromal puncture (ASP) in the management of pain in patients with symptomatic bullous keratopathy (BK).

Methods: In this prospective comparative study, 40 eyes of 40 patients with symptomatic BK (chronic intermittent pain) were randomised and divided into two groups (AMT and ASP) according to the technique used to treat symptomatic BK. The patients were examined on days 1, 14, 30, 90 and 180 postoperatively.

[Characteristics of corneal donors in the Cascavel Eye Bank: impact of the anti-HBc test for hepatitis B].

Purpose: To describe the characteristics of human ocular tissue donors from the Cascavel Eye Bank in the State of Paraná (PR) and investigate the impact of hepatitis B serologic test positivity on discarded ocular tissues.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of data collected between March 2006 and April 2007 at the Cascavel Eye Bank. Information such as age, gender, cause of death, time between death and enucleation, and serologic tests results was collected.

Impression cytology findings in bullous keratopathy.

Aim: To evaluate, by impression cytology (IC), the cytological features of the central area of corneal epithelial surface of patients with symptomatic bullous keratopathy (BK). Design Cross-sectional observational case series.

Methods: IC of the central cornea was performed in 72 eyes of 72 patients with symptomatic BK between June 2005 and December 2006.

[Discarded corneas due to positive donor's serologic test in the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank: a two-year study].

Purpose: To investigate discarded corneas due to positive serologic tests in donors from the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank (BOHSP) during a two-year period.

Methods: Retrospective study of records from cornea donors between January 2006 and December 2007. Information such as serologic test results (Hepatitis B, C, and HIV), source of corneal tissue, donor's gender and age were tested for correlation.

[Factors associated with quality of donated corneas in the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank].

Purpose: To investigate factors associated with the morphological quality of corneal tissue at the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank (BOHSP) - UNIFESP.

Methods: Retrospective study of records from the BOHSP between 2001 and 2006. Information about donors such as age, gender, and cause of death were collected as well as time between death and enucleation (time-to-enucleation), time between enucleation and tissue preservation (time-to-preservation), preservation media, and source of corneal tissue.

[Reproducibility of the classification of ocular ferning patterns in Sjogren's syndrome patients].

Purpose: To verify the reproducibility of Rolando's classification of the tear ferning test using five different examiners and to compare the patterns of crystallization found in Sjögren's syndrome patients and normal subjects.

Methods: Tear ferning analysis of 29 patients with Sjögren's syndrome and of 45 patients without ocular disease were done using polarized light microscopy and the Rolando classification for tear ferning. Five examiners classified the ferning patterns of all the patients.

[Ten years of corneal donation to the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank: characteristics of cornea donors from 1996 to 2005].

Background: Despite all efforts towards the improvement of the eye bank system, the shortage of corneal tissue for transplant is still an important issue in Brazil. The Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank aims to provide high-quality ocular tissues for surgery starting with rigorous selection of donors.

Purpose: To investigate the characteristics of cornea donors to the Hospital São Paulo Eye Bank during a 10-year period.

[Artificial neural networks applied to study allergic conjunctivitis screening questionnaire].

Purpose: To evaluate sensibility and specificity of a screening questionnaire with multivariable analysis, compare them and elaborate an artificial neural network for future screenings.

Methods: Observational, transversal study performed at UNIFESP, with 48 patients with allergic conjunctivitis and 54 children without the disease. Their age ranged between 3 and 14 years and there was no restriction related to gender, systemic allergy or treatment.