Clinical features of ocular herpetic infection in an italian referral center.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe clinical manifestations of herpetic ocular infection caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in a referral center in Northern Italy.

Methods: This retrospective study included 241 patients with herpetic ocular infection referred to the tertiary-care Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Service, at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, from January 2006 to August 2013. The main clinical parameters evaluated were etiology, clinical features, ocular complications, and recurrences of the infection.

SD-OCT patterns of the different stages of choroidal metastases.

A diagnosis of choroidal metastasis is based on the patient's clinical history, the tumor's ophthalmoscopic appearance, and instrumental imaging results such as ultrasonography, fluorescein angiography, fundus autofluorescence, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has provided additional useful information for clinical diagnosis: a pattern of hyperintense irregular spots in the context of the photoreceptor layer and in the retinal pigment epithelium, subretinal fluid, and marked irregularity of the retinal pigment epithelium with thickening and gross undulation. The authors describe a case of bilateral choroidal metastasis presenting peculiar SD-OCT features acquired at different stages.

Anesthesiologist intervention during cataract surgery under topical or peribulbar anesthesia: a propensity model comparison.

Purpose: To compare the incidence and type of anesthesiologist intervention during cataract surgery under peribulbar (PA) or topical (TLA) anesthesia in a day-surgery monitored anesthesia care setting (monitoring provided by nurses with the anesthesiologist available on an on-call basis).

Methods: From a prospective database of all phacoemulsifications performed in our hospital (January 2008-January 2009), 97 patients submitted to cataract surgery under PA were matched with 97 patients submitted to the same surgery under TA by a propensity model. The resulting groups were homogeneous as to history of antihypertensive therapy administered on the day of surgery and not administered on the day of surgery, cardiologic history, neurologic history, psychiatric history, anxiolytic assumption, and history of diabetes mellitus.