Transpalpebral electrotherapy for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD): an exploratory trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of transpalpebral electrotherapy on patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: 22 patients were randomized in two groups to either receive therapy (n = 12) or placebo (n = 10). There was no statistically significant difference for age and initial visual acuity (VA) between the two groups (p = 0.

Comparison of Spectralis-OCT, GDxVCC and GDxECC in assessing retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in glaucomatous patients.

Background: Glaucomatous optic neuropathy is characterized by a progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The defects in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) have been reported to be the earliest sign of glaucoma. We determined the agreement between RNFL thickness assessments from spectral-domain OCT (Spectarlis HRA + OCT; Heidelberg Engeneering, Heidelberg, Germany), scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) with variable cornea compensation (GDxVCC; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA), and SLP with enhanced cornea compensation (GDxECC; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA) in glaucomatous patients.

Scanning laser topography and scanning laser polarimetry: comparing both imaging methods at same distances from the optic nerve head.

Purpose: To compare the performance of scanning laser topography (SLT) and scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) on the rim of the optic nerve head and its surrounding area and thereby to evaluate whether these imaging technologies are influenced by other factors beyond the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL).

Materials And Methodology: A total of 154 eyes from 5 different groups were examined: young healthy subjects (YNorm), old healthy subjects (ONorm), patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG), patients with open-angle glaucoma and early glaucomatous damage (OAGE) and patients with open-angle glaucoma and advanced glaucomatous damage (OAGA). SLT and SLP measurements were taken.

Echocardiographic identification of iatrogenic injury of the circumflex artery during minimally invasive mitral valve repair.

Background: Injury to the circumflex artery after mitral valve (MV) repair or replacement is a recognized complication of this procedure. We designed an echocardiographic method to visualize the course and flow of the circumflex artery, to detect iatrogenic injury to this structure intraoperatively, as well as to predict the coronary dominance pattern in MV surgery patients.

Methods: After Ethics Committee approval, a prospective study was undertaken in 110 patients undergoing minimal invasive MV repair.

Comparison of the Colvard, Procyon, and Neuroptics pupillometers for measuring pupil diameter under low ambient illumination.

Purpose: To compare three different pupillometers (Colvard, Procyon, and Neuroptics) for determining pupil diameter at 0.04 and 0.4 lux ambient illumination.

Episcleral venous pressure in untreated primary open-angle and normal-tension glaucoma.

The aim of this prospective study was to investigate episcleral venous pressure (EVP) in different forms of glaucoma in comparison with age-matched controls. EVP was measured by means of a venomanometer in 32 eyes with untreated primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), 36 eyes with untreated normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) as well as 56 control eyes without ophthalmological disease other than cataract. In addition to ophthalmological standard examination, cardiovascular parameters such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were recorded.

Angioarchitecture and innervation of the primate anterior episclera.

Purpose: To investigate the primate episcleral vasculature and its innervation with respect to morphological specializations.

Methods: Serial sections of the anterior episclera of 8 monkey eyes and 20 human eyes were investigated enzyme- and immunohistochemically using antibodies against smooth-muscle alpha-actin (SMA), neurofilament, synaptophysin, substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VACHT), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), vesicular monoamine transporter II (VMAT II), as well as the NADPH-diaphorase reaction. Arteriovenous anastomoses (AVA) were quantified.

Substance P and opioid peptidergic innervation of the anterior eye segment of the rat: an immunohistochemical study.

Recently discovered endogenous opioid peptides such as nociceptin are known to modulate neurotransmitter release of primary afferent neurons (especially substance P, SP) and they have also been demonstrated in peripheral nerve fibres. The aim of this study was to investigate the opioid peptidergic innervation of the anterior eye segment and to compare it with the innervation pattern of SP in order to shed light on the functional relationship between these peptides. Anterior eye segments of 20 rat eyes were cut in a tangential plane and the sections stained with antibodies against SP, nociceptin, nocistatin, endomorphin 1 and 2, leu-enkephalin and met-enkephalin.

Scanning laser polarimetry in myopic and hyperopic subjects.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of refraction error and axial length on retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurements as obtained by scanning laser polarimetry (SLP).

Methods: Besides ophthalmological standard examination (refractive error, keratometry, visual acuity, slit-lamp examination, applanation tonometry, funduscopy), perimetry, axial length measurement by means of ultrasound, and SLP were performed. Seventy-five myopic eyes (between -0.

Influence of cataract surgery with implantation of different intraocular lenses on scanning laser tomography and polarimetry.

Purpose: To describe the influence of cataract surgery with implantation of different intraocular lenses on scanning laser tomography (SLT) and scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) and to measure the birefringent properties of intraocular lenses in a laboratory setting.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: The influence of phacoemulsification cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation (56 polymethylmethacrylate [PMMA; 31 Pharmacia/Upjohn 811 B and 25 Domilens Flex 60]; 25 hydroxyethylmethacrylate/methylmethacrylate (HEMA/MMA) [Technomed, Memory Lens]; 32 silicone [Allergan Si40]; 25 acrylic [Storz Hydroview]) on SLP and SLT measurements was evaluated preoperatively and 3 to 4 weeks postoperatively in 138 eyes of otherwise healthy patients.

[Clinical experiences and results of application of mitomycin C in trabeculectomy].

Background: Mitomycin C (MMC) used as an additive agent in glaucoma surgery has been shown to improve the postoperative results of intraocular pressure (IOP), but may also lead to higher incidences of postoperative wound healing disorders and of hypotonia with choroidal detachment. In this retrospective study the levels of IOP, the incidence of complications and changes of the visual acuity (VA) were monitored.

Methods: A trabeculectomy was performed on 70 eyes (57 patients).