Crossing the Death Valley of publication process in cornea and ocular surface diseases: from abstracts presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting to full-text manuscripts.

Purpose: This study was conducted to analyze the profile and publication rate of abstracts in indexed journals presented in the cornea section at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and to further identify potential predictive factors for better outcomes.

Methods: Abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2013 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in the cornea section were sought via PubMed and Scopus to identify whether they had been published as full-text manuscripts. First author's name, time of publication, journal's name, and impact factor were recorded.

Longitudinal Corneal Endothelial Cell Changes in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Purpose: To evaluate longitudinally corneal endothelial cell changes in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and to further investigate possible correlations with hematological and ocular characteristics.

Methods: Prospective observational study conducted at a single center. All patients underwent a comprehensive ophthalmological examination, before and after HSCT, including slitlamp examination, Schirmer test, tear breakup time, ocular surface staining, specular microscopy of corneal endothelium, and Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire.

Longitudinal Analysis of Infrared Meibography in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Purpose: To evaluate meibomian gland (MG) changes in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) by infrared meibography and to further investigate possible correlations with hematological characteristics.

Methods: Thirty-three patients were included: infrared meibography of the lower eyelid, Schirmer test, tear break-up time, ocular surface staining, and Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire were conducted before (V0) and 4 months after HSCT (V1). A paired samples t test was used to compare parameters before and after HSCT.

Blood derived treatment from two allogeneic sources for severe dry eye associated to keratopathy: a multicentre randomised cross over clinical trial.

Aim: To compare the efficacy of cord blood and peripheral adult donor blood serum eyedrops, controlled for growth factor content, in the treatment of severe dry eye diseases (DED) resistant to conventional therapy.

Methods: This was a multicentre randomised, double-masked, cross-over clinical trial. Sixty patients diagnosed as severe DED, associated to persistent corneal epithelial defects were randomised and equally assigned to group A (treated with cord blood serum (CBS)) or group B (treated with PBS), eyedrops administered eight times/day for 1 month.

Ocular surface status in patients with hemifacial spasm under long-lasting treatment with botulinum A toxin: A comparative fellow eye study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of long-lasting botulinum A toxin injections on ocular surface parameters and to further investigate the relationship between these parameters and the duration of the treatment.

Methods: In this retrospective study, patients with unilateral hemifacial spasm who were receiving botulinum A toxin injections for at least 1 year were analyzed. Healthy contralateral eyes acted as controls.

Longitudinal Morphometric Analysis of Sub-Basal Nerve Plexus in Contralateral Eyes of Patients with Unilateral Neurotrophic Keratitis.

: To investigate longitudinally corneal sub-basal nerve plexus (SNP) by means of in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) in the contralateral eye (CE) of patients with unilateral neurotrophic keratitis (NK) secondary to central nervous system (CNS) diseases who underwent different treatments. : Ten patients with NK and 10 matched controls were included. In 7 NK patients, conservative treatment maintained unchanged the clinical picture over the 1-year follow-up (Group 1), while NK progressed in 3 patients who underwent direct corneal neurotization (Group 2).

In Vivo Confocal Microscopy Automated Morphometric Analysis of Corneal Subbasal Nerve Plexus in Patients With Dry Eye Treated With Different Sources of Homologous Serum Eye Drops.

Purpose: To investigate the comparative effect of allogeneic peripheral blood serum (allo-PBS) and cord blood serum (CBS) eye drops on the status of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus in patients with dry eye disease by using an automated analysis system of in vivo confocal microscopy images.

Methods: This prospective, randomized, double-blind study included 30 patients with severe dry eye disease assigned to receive allo-PBS (group 1) or CBS (group 2) eye drops 8 times a day for 30 days. The following in vivo confocal microscopy parameters were calculated with ACCMetrics before (visit 1 [V1]) and after treatment (visit 2 [V2]): corneal nerve fiber density, corneal nerve branch density, corneal nerve fiber length, corneal nerve total branch density, corneal nerve fiber area, corneal nerve fiber width, and corneal nerve fractal dimension (CNFrD).

Choroidal Vascular Changes in Arteritic and Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.

Purpose: To compare choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in patients with arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (A-AION), nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NA-AION), and control subjects.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Methods: This study was conducted at the Ophthalmology Unit of the S.

CHOROIDAL VASCULARITY INDEX QUANTIFICATION IN GEOGRAPHIC ATROPHY USING BINARIZATION OF ENHANCED-DEPTH IMAGING OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHIC SCANS.

Purpose: To evaluate choroidal structural changes occurring over time in geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration using choroidal vascularity index (CVI).

Methods: Enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography scans of 34 patients with GA and 32 control subjects were retrospectively analyzed. Data were collected at baseline and after a mean follow-up of 18.

In vivo confocal microscopy morphometric analysis of corneal subbasal nerve plexus in dry eye disease using newly developed fully automated system.

Purpose: To evaluate in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) features of corneal subbasal nerve plexus (SNP) in the setting of dry eye disease (DED) using fully automated software "ACCMetrics," and to further investigate its diagnostic performance in discriminating DED patients.

Methods: IVCM exams of SNP in DED patients and matched control subjects were performed using Heidelberg Retina Tomograph with the Rostock Cornea Module. The following parameters were obtained with ACCMetrics: corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), corneal nerve branch density (CNBD), corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL), corneal nerve total branch density (CTBD), corneal nerve fiber area (CNFA), corneal nerve fiber width (CNFW), and corneal nerve fractal dimension (CNFrD).

Meibomian Gland Dropout in Hematological Patients Before Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Purpose: To perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of meibomian gland (MG) dropout in hematological patients before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and to correlate it with both ocular surface and hematological characteristics.

Methods: This prospective study included 46 consecutive patients undergoing HSCT and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Noninvasive meibography of the lower eyelid, meiboscore (Pult scale), Schirmer test type I, tear film breakup time, and corneal and conjunctival staining were measured.