Factors associated with variability in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements obtained by optical coherence tomography.

Objective: To identify factors associated with variability in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Design: Retrospective observational case series.

Participants: One hundred fifty consecutive patients with known or suspected glaucomatous optic nerve damage undergoing OCT imaging for RNFL thickness measurement.

Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide for the treatment of immune recovery uveitis macular edema.

Purpose: To evaluate the use of intravitreal triamcinolone (IVTA) for the treatment of macular edema secondary to immune recovery uveitis (IRU) in patients with AIDS.

Design: Prospective, consecutive, interventional case series.

Participants: Eight eyes of 7 patients receiving 13 injections.

Differences in clinical findings between Caucasians and African Americans with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis.

Objective: To study the prevalence of ocular manifestations in African American and Caucasian patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis at the initial ophthalmic examination and to determine the relationship between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) levels, chest x-ray findings, and ocular signs of sarcoidosis.

Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study.

Participants: Eighty-one consecutive patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis seen at the Doheny Eye Institute from January 1989 through April 2005.

Assessment of retinal function in patients with HIV without infectious retinitis by multifocal electroretinogram and automated perimetry.

Purpose: To determine if multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) testing shows abnormalities that correspond to perimetric defects in HIV positive patients without infectious retinitis.

Methods: We studied three groups of patients: HIV negative controls, HIV high CD4 nadir patients (lowest CD4 T cell count is over 100) and low CD4 nadir patients (below 100 for over 6 months). Twenty-six HIV positive eyes and 16 HIV negative control eyes were studied by mfERG.

Esterified estrogens combined with methyltestosterone raise intraocular pressure in postmenopausal women.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of esterified estrogens combined with methyltestosterone (EECM) (Estratest, Solvay, Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Baudette, Minnesota, USA) on intraocular pressure (IOP) in postmenopausal women.

Design: Observational case series.

Methods: The IOP of 13 consecutive postmenopausal women with dry eye syndrome were recorded before and during EECM therapy (1.

Photodynamic therapy for choroidal neovascularisation secondary to inflammatory chorioretinal disease.

Introduction: To review the long-term outcome of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin for inflammatory chorioretinal disease with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) over a 1-year period.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of eyes with subfoveal CNV for associated choroiditis that were treated with PDT using verteporfin over a 1-year period.

Main Outcome Measure: visual acuity.

Long-term study of intraocular pressure changes in patients with human immunodeficiency virus treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Purpose: To characterize a longitudinal relationship between highly active antiretroviral therapy immune recovery as defined by an increase in CD4 cell counts and any associated changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) in both patients with and patients without a history of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis and to determine if human immunodeficiency (HIV)-induced reduction in IOP is reversible.

Design: Retrospective analysis of patient data collected from 1997 through 2004.

Participants: Cohort of patients from one eye center, including patients from the Longitudinal Study of Ocular Complications of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

One-year results of a pilot study using oral 13-cis retinoic acid as a treatment for subfoveal predominantly occult choroidal neovascularization in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and evidence of efficacy for oral 13-cis retinoic acid as a treatment for patients with subfoveal occult choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).

Methods: Patients with active, subfoveal occult CNV with no prior treatment of the subfoveal component were eligible for inclusion. Patients received 40 mg of 13-cis retinoic acid twice daily for 5 months, stopped treatment for 2 months, and then resumed treatment for 5 months.

Errors in retinal thickness measurements obtained by optical coherence tomography.

Objective: To report the frequency and severity of optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal thickness measurement errors and to describe parameters that predict these errors.

Design: Observational case series.

Participants: Two hundred consecutive patients undergoing OCT imaging.

Results of silicone oil removal in patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis related retinal detachments.

Purpose: To evaluate the percentage and risk indicators leading to retinal redetachment in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) patients with CMV (cytomegalovirus) retinitis related retinal detachments that were repaired with silicone oil, and then subsequently underwent oil removal.

Design: Retrospective, noncomparative interventional case series.

Methods: The study cohort consisted of a series of 15 eyes in 14 patients with HIV and CMV retinitis with a retinal detachment (RD) repaired with silicone oil at a single center and followed from the time of the CMV retinitis diagnosis through the time of silicone oil removal.

Intraoperative optical refractive biometry for intraocular lens power estimation without axial length and keratometry measurements.

Purpose: To correlate intraoperative aphakic autorefraction to conventional emmetropic intraocular lens (IOL) calculations and derive an empiric predictive model for IOL estimation based on optical refractive biometry without axial length and keratometry measurements.

Setting: Institutional Review Board of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles County General Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Methods: A pilot group of 22 eyes of 22 patients scheduled for cataract surgery were enrolled in a prospective trial.

Implantation of an inactive epiretinal poly(dimethyl siloxane) electrode array in dogs.

The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term, mechanical biocompatibility of a polymer microtechnology that can be used to position electrodes in close proximity to the retina. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) arrays were manufactured by soft-lithography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The PDMS implant measured 4 mm x 40 mm x 55-60 microm and included 4-8 electrodes.

Long-term stimulation by active epiretinal implants in normal and RCD1 dogs.

An epiretinal prosthesis, consisting of an extraocular microelectronic stimulator and an intraocular electrode array, was implanted in one eye of three blind and three sighted dogs. Three dogs (2 blind, 1 normal) were stimulated for 120 days, and two dogs (both normal) for 60 and 103 days respectively for 8-10 h/day at levels of 0.1 mC cm(-2) and 0.

Experience with the baerveldt glaucoma implant in the management of pediatric glaucoma.

Purpose: To report the clinical outcome in 48 eyes of 48 children who received a Baerveldt glaucoma implant (BGI) for the management of pediatric glaucoma.

Design: Retrospective, noncomparative case series.

Methods: The medical records of all patients with pediatric glaucoma who underwent a BGI at two tertiary care referral centers in Los Angeles between 1990 and 1999 were reviewed.

Race-ethnic differences in the extent, prevalence, and progression of coronary calcium.

Objective: To compare across four race-ethnic groups the baseline prevalence and extent of coronary calcium and the 7-year rate of progression in the extent of coronary calcium.

Design: The South Bay Heart Watch is a prospective cohort study designed to appraise the value of coronary calcium for predicting cardiovascular outcomes in asymptomatic adults with cardiac risk factors. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate ethnic differences in the prevalence, extent, and progression of coronary calcium among Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian participants.

Ambient air pollution and atherosclerosis in Los Angeles.

Associations have been found between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The contribution of air pollution to atherosclerosis that underlies many cardiovascular diseases has not been investigated. Animal data suggest that ambient particulate matter (PM) may contribute to atherogenesis.

Relation of coronary calcium progression and control of lipids according to National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines.

Tracking of coronary artery calcium (CAC) has been suggested for monitoring the effects of lipid control, but it is not known whether lipid control decreases progression of CAC. Seven hundred sixty-one subjects (mean age 64.5 +/- 7.

Prophylactic effect of IL-10 gene transfer on induced autoimmune dacryoadenitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of viral IL-10 on the lacrimal gland immunopathologic response in the ocular surface disease, induced autoimmune dacryoadenitis.

Methods: Disease was induced in rabbits by injecting inferior lacrimal glands with peripheral blood lymphocytes activated by 5 days of coculture with autologous acinar cells in a mixed-cell reaction. In the treated group, an adenoviral vector carrying the vIL-10 gene was concurrently injected with activated lymphocytes.

Valganciclovir therapy for immune recovery uveitis complicated by macular edema.

Purpose: To determine whether treatment with valganciclovir will improve visual acuity in eyes with immune recovery uveitis complicated by macular edema.

Design: Prospective open label controlled Phase II drug study.

Methods: Five patients with chronic macular edema as a result of immune recovery uveitis were studied.

Comparison of calcium scores from thick- and thin image slice-computed tomography scanning in predicting future coronary events.

Computed tomographic image slices between 2.5 and 3.0 mm are commonly used for coronary calcium scanning.

Accumulation of NH2-terminal fragment of connective tissue growth factor in the vitreous of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Objective: To evaluate the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and its fragments in the vitreous of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and to localize CTGF expression in associated preretinal membranes.

Research Design And Methods: Vitreous was obtained from 24 patients with active PDR, 4 patients with quiescent PDR, and 23 patients with other retinal diseases and no diabetes, including 5 patients with vitreous hemorrhage. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine levels of whole CTGF and its NH2- and COOH-terminal fragments.

Coronary artery calcium score combined with Framingham score for risk prediction in asymptomatic individuals.

Context: Guidelines advise that all adults undergo coronary heart disease (CHD) risk assessment to guide preventive treatment intensity. Although the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) is often recommended for this, it has been suggested that risk assessment may be improved by additional tests such as coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS).

Objectives: To determine whether CACS assessment combined with FRS in asymptomatic adults provides prognostic information superior to either method alone and whether the combined approach can more accurately guide primary preventive strategies in patients with CHD risk factors.

Online continuous quality improvement for diabetic retinopathy tele-screening.

Non-mydriatic digital fundus cameras constitute the key component for diabetic retinopathy tele-screening. This study investigated whether image capture skills acquired by non-professional photographers in a 1-day seminar and applied in a community setting may be reinforced and strengthened over time using an online continuous quality improvement (CQI) protocol. Approximately 20 amateur photographers from 13 independent sites were trained to capture images according to the recommended protocol: one 45 degrees image per eye, centered between the macula and the optic nerve, without dilation.

Correcting the corneal power measurements for intraocular lens power calculations after myopic laser in situ keratomileusis.

Purpose: To describe and evaluate a refraction-derived method and a clinically derived method to calculate the correct corneal power for intraocular lens (IOL) power calculations after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and to compare the results to the commonly used history-derived method.

Design: Interventional case series.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of consecutive cases from clinical practice.