Persistent severe visual field impairment is associated with obesity and tumour invasiveness, but not with pituitary dysfunction, in patients with craniopharyngioma.

Purpose: Craniopharyngiomas (CP) are benign tumours of the sellar region. Hypopituitarism, visual deficits, hypothalamic damage with consequent obesity and related increased cardiovascular risk, are complications due to the tumour itself or secondary to treatment strategy. We retrospectively correlated visual field status with clinical, neuroradiological, histopathological features and management strategy, in a single-centre cohort of patients with CP.

Multidisciplinary Management of Pituitary Apoplexy.

Pituitary apoplexy is a rare clinical syndrome due to ischemic or haemorrhagic necrosis of the pituitary gland which complicates 2-12% of pituitary tumours, especially nonfunctioning adenomas. In many cases, it results in severe neurological, ophthalmological, and endocrinological consequences and may require prompt surgical decompression. Pituitary apoplexy represents a rare medical emergency that necessitates a multidisciplinary approach.

Scanning laser polarimetry and confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy: technical notes on their use in glaucoma.

The mere intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement and the visual field (VF) examination do not allow early primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) diagnosis. At present, the morphological and morphometric analysis of the optic disk is considered very important for an early diagnosis and follow-up of the disease. The recent introduction of laser systems equipped with new polarimetry techniques (GDx) and confocal tomography (HRT) allows an objective, quantitative, and reproducible evaluation of the morphometry and morphology of the optic disk and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL).

Effects of tear substitutes on conjunctival epithelium of mice.

Aim: The effects of the administration of three tear substitutes on normal conjunctival epithelium of the mouse, with particular regard to goblet cells, were studied.

Methods: Three-month-old Swiss CD 1 mice were divided into four groups of 7 animals each. Group 1 was untreated (control).

Age-related modifications of corneal sensitivity.

Purpose: To evaluate central and peripheral corneal sensitivity (CS) in relation to age.

Methods: Five hundred eyes of 320 healthy subjects (185 males and 135 females) were examined. The age of participants ranged from 20 to 90 years.

Postural modifications of the oscillatory potentials of the electroretinogram in primary open-angle glaucoma.

The postural variations in the retinal microcirculation in glaucomatous patients were studied by evaluation of the oscillatory potentials (OPs) of the ERG. The OPs in scotopic adaptation were examined in subjects with primary open-angle glaucoma and in an age- and sex-matched normal control group in different body positions (seated, supine, anti-Trendelenburg, Trendelenburg). In the seated position, the difference of mean OP amplitude between the control group and the glaucomatous patients was highly significant (p < 0.