Multifocal electroretinographic responses in sector retinitis pigmentosa.

Headings: Multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) may be useful in the management of sector retinitis pigmentosa (SRP).

Aim: To compare multifocal electroretinographic responses in SRP, generalised retinitis pigmentosa (GRP), and healthy controls.

Methods: Eighteen patients with SRP, twelve with GRP, and fifteen controls were included in the study.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Choroidal Neovascularization due to Angioid Streaks with pro re nata Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Treatment.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term outcomes of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs with a pro re nata (PRN) regimen for the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to angioid streaks (AS).

Methods: This is a retrospective, multicenter, noncomparative case series of consecutive AS eyes affected by treatment-naïve CNV. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed every 30-45 days after the loading phase, including fluorescein angiography and/or optical coherence tomography.

Systematic screening of Retinopathy in Diabetes (REaD project): an Italian implementation campaign.

Purpose: To evaluate the use of telemedicine retinal screening in Italy and to identify potential elements of implementation of this system.

Methods: Patients with either new-onset diabetes or no ophthalmologic visit over the previous 2 years and attending 33 referral diabetic centers between mid-April 2013 and mid December 2015 were screened. Two partially overlapping nonstereoscopic 45° digital color images were captured from each eye using a fully automated nonmydriatic digital fundus camera.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness by Stratus and Cirrus OCT in retrobulbar optic neuritis and nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy.

Purpose: To compare retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) measurements by Stratus and Cirrus optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate agreement between the 2 instruments in retrobulbar optic neuritis (RON), nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), and healthy controls.

Methods: A total of 89 eyes with RON, 92 with NAION (6 to 12 months after diagnosis of acute disease), and 159 control eyes were studied. Average RNFLT was measured by Stratus and Cirrus OCTs.

Dietary profile of patients with Stargardt's disease and Retinitis Pigmentosa: is there a role for a nutritional approach?

Background: Stargardt's disease (STGD) and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) are inherited retinal degenerations that may be affected, in opposite way, by diet.

Methods: Dietary profile was assessed in 24 patients with STGD and in 56 patients with RP. We documented in only 6 out of 24 (25%) STGD patients a daily intake of vitamin A within the recommended range while 14/24 (58.

Recommendations for the appropriate management of diabetic macular edema: Light on DME survey and consensus document by an expert panel.

Purpose: The Light on DME survey was designed to address several issues concerning the management of diabetic macular edema (DME) with the objective of producing practical recommendations for the appropriate treatment of this condition.

Methods: The recommendations considered aspects of DME treatment that are controversial and insufficiently supported by the evidence and were based on a consensus reached by an expert panel. Consensus was achieved by means of the Delphi method.

Ranibizumab for Visual Impairment due to Diabetic Macular Edema: Real-World Evidence in the Italian Population (PRIDE Study).

Purpose. An expanded access program (PRIDE study) in Italy to provide ranibizumab 0.5 mg to diabetic macular edema (DME) patients, prior to reimbursement.

Long-term outcomes of phakic patients with diabetic macular oedema treated with intravitreal fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) implants.

Purpose: Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is a leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. Slow-release, nonbioerodible fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) implants have shown efficacy in the treatment of DMO; however, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that FAc should be used in patients with chronic DMO considered insufficiently responsive to other available therapies only if the eye to be treated is pseudophakic. The goal of this analysis was to examine treatment outcomes in phakic patients who received 0.

Long-Term Results of Photodynamic Therapy for Choroidal Neovascularization in Pediatric Patients with Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy.

Purpose: To report long-term results of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in young patients affected by Best vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD) complicated by choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Methods: We evaluated a group of 30 VMD patients with confirmed mutations in the BEST1 gene. Five of these patients had been diagnosed with CNV when younger than 15 years of age and three of them were treated by PDT.

MYO7A and USH2A gene sequence variants in Italian patients with Usher syndrome.

Purpose: To analyze the spectrum of sequence variants in the MYO7A and USH2A genes in a group of Italian patients affected by Usher syndrome (USH).

Methods: Thirty-six Italian patients with a diagnosis of USH were recruited. They received a standard ophthalmologic examination, visual field testing, optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan, and electrophysiological tests.

Ocular surface temperature in age-related macular degeneration.

Background. The aim of this study is to investigate the ocular thermographic profiles in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) eyes and age-matched controls to detect possible hemodynamic abnormalities, which could be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Methods.

Clinical outcomes and rotational stability of a 4-haptic toric intraocular lens in myopic eyes.

Purpose: To evaluate the refractive outcomes and rotational stability of a 4-haptic toric intraocular lens (IOL) in myopic eyes and the correlations between IOL rotation and refractive sphere, axial length (AL), and white-to-white (WTW) diameter.

Setting: Eye Clinic, Careggi Hospital, Florence, Italy.

Design: Prospective case series.

Results of intravitreal ranibizumab with a prn regimen in the treatment of extrafoveal and juxtafoveal neovascular membranes in age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab with a "pro re nata" regimen in the treatment of nonsubfoveal neovascular membranes secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Retrospective noncomparative case series. Thirty-one eyes with naive nonsubfoveal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration were consecutively enrolled and treated with ranibizumab intravitreal injections according to a pro re nata regimen.

Relationship between ocular surface temperature and peripheral vasoconstriction in healthy subjects: a thermographic study.

An impairment of ocular blood flow regulation is commonly considered one of the main pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the development of several eye diseases, like glaucoma. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an alteration of ocular blood supply induced by peripheral vasoconstriction might be detected by measuring the ocular surface temperature. The ocular surface temperature was evaluated in a group of 38 healthy young subjects (28 males and 10 females; mean age: 25.

Safety testing of blue vital dyes using cell culture models.

Purpose: To investigate the safety of trypan blue, brilliant blue G (BBG), Evans blue (EB), patent blue, Chicago blue (CB), and bromophenol blue (BB), with and without halogen and xenon light exposure.

Methods: All dyes were diluted in a balanced saline solution at a concentration of 0.5%.

RADIANCE: a randomized controlled study of ranibizumab in patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of ranibizumab 0.5 mg, guided by visual acuity (VA) stabilization or disease activity criteria, versus verteporfin photodynamic therapy (vPDT) in patients with visual impairment due to myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Design: Phase III, 12-month, randomized, double-masked, multicenter, active-controlled study.

Intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy for vascularized pigment epithelium detachment in age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment of vascularized pigment epithelial detachment (PED) due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: A total of 26 patients with vascularized PED secondary to AMD were retrospectively analyzed and treated with anti-VEGF intravitreal injections according to a PRN regimen after 3 initial injections. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiography were performed at baseline and quarterly.

Assessment of the tolerability profile of an ophthalmic solution of 5% glycyrrhizin and copolymer PEG/PPG on healthy volunteers and evaluation of its efficacy in the treatment of moderate to severe blepharitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the tolerability on healthy volunteers and the efficacy on subjects affected by chronic moderate/severe blepharitis of a 5% glycyrrhizin and copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(propylene glycol)(PEG/PPG) ophthalmic solution.

Methods: The study was a randomized, controlled, open label, intra-patient monocentric study. It consisted of two different phases, the assessment of tolerability phase on 20 healthy volunteers, and the evaluation of the efficacy on 21 subjects affected by chronic moderate/severe blepharitis; the treatment period was 2 weeks, followed by 1-week of follow-up.

A systematic review of endophthalmitis after microincisional versus 20-gauge vitrectomy.

Background: Endophthalmitis is a rare but severe complication of vitrectomy.

Clinical Relevance: Post-surgical endophthalmitis is suspected to be more frequent after microincisional (23- and 25-gauge) compared with standard (20-gauge) vitrectomy.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies that compared microincisional and standard vitrectomy by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE up to November 2012.

Azithromycin: assessment of intrinsic cytotoxic effects on corneal epithelial cell cultures.

Purpose: To compare the cytotoxic effects of preservative-free azithromycin on corneal epithelial cells in vivo with those of preservative-free netilmicin and levofloxacin, and the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BAK).

Methods: Rabbit corneal epithelial cells in vitro were incubated for 15 minutes or 6 hours with commercially available ophthalmic preservative-free netilmicin 0.3%, levofloxacin 0.

Clinical and microperimetric predictors of reading speed in low vision patients: a structural equation modeling approach.

Purpose: To investigate the simultaneous association of several psychophysical measures with reading ability in patients with mild and moderate low vision attending rehabilitation services.

Methods: Standard measurements of reading ability (Minnesota Reading [MNREAD] charts), visual acuity (Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study [ETDRS] charts), contrast sensitivity (Pelli-Robson charts), reading contrast threshold (Reading Explorer [REX] charts), retinal sensitivity, and fixation stability and localization (Micro Perimeter 1 [MP1] fundus perimetry) were obtained in 160 low vision patients with better eye visual acuity ranging from 0.3 to 1.

Acquired retinoschisis with giant outer layer break and retinal detachment.

Purpose: To evaluate the natural history of a case of retinoschisis with giant outer layer break and retinal detachment.

Methods: A 42-year-old patient with a sudden paracentral scotoma in the visual field of the right eye underwent the following examinations: best-corrected visual acuity, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, optical coherence tomography, ocular echography, and fundus photography.

Results: The eye examination revealed inferotemporal retinoschisis-detachment with a giant outer retinal layer break and absence of foveal involvement.