Patient-reported outcome measures in vitreoretinal surgery: a systematic review.

This review article systematically reviews the use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in Vitreoretinal surgery, with the aim of recommending a preferred PROM-tool for use in clinical practice. Vitreoretinal surgery lags behind other ophthalmic subspecialties in the adoption of PROMs as a core outcome measure of success post-operatively. Current outcomes rely heavily on post-operative Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) and anatomical success on imaging modalities such as Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT), despite the link between each of these measures and patient satisfaction being uncertain.

Gut Dysbiosis in Ocular Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid.

Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid is an orphan multi-system autoimmune scarring disease involving mucosal sites, including the ocular surface (OcMMP) and gut. Loss of tolerance to epithelial basement membrane proteins and generation of autoreactive T cell and/or autoantibodies are central to the disease process. The gut microbiome plays a critical role in the development of the immune system.

Creating a Health Utility Value for Birdshot Chorioretinopathy.

Purpose: To create a health utility value for birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) using Time Trade-Off (TTO) and Standard Gamble (SG) utilities.

Method: Adult BCR patients completed TTO, SG, EQ-5D-5L, and NEI VFQ-25 questionnaires and underwent a detailed history and clinical examination.

Results: A total of 28 BCR patients (9 M, 19 F; mean age 62 years, range 47-83) were included.

Plasma fibroblast skin tightening treatment resulting in bilateral chemical eye injury secondary to EMLA cream: a case report.

Background: Plasma fibroblast skin tightening treatment is a relatively novel and growing minimally invasive aesthetic skin procedure. The treatment claims to rejuvenate skin by improving facial lines, wrinkles and skin pigmentation associated with photo-ageing. The skin is often anaesthetised prior to the procedure with topical creams such as EMLA (Eutectic mixture of local anaesthetics).

A comparison of deep learning performance against health-care professionals in detecting diseases from medical imaging: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Deep learning offers considerable promise for medical diagnostics. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of deep learning algorithms versus health-care professionals in classifying diseases using medical imaging.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched Ovid-MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index, and Conference Proceedings Citation Index for studies published from Jan 1, 2012, to June 6, 2019.

Longitudinal Study Investigating the Relationship between Disease Activity and Psychological Status of Patients with Behçet's Disease.

Purpose: To compare longitudinal changes in disease activity with quality of life and psychological status in patients with Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods: Patients attending a National Centre of Excellence for BD over a two-year period had disease activity including clinician and patient perception of disease documented and completed a number of validated quality of life and psychological questionnaires. Some representative case-studies were examined in detail.

Health-related quality of life in patients with uveitis.

Background/aims: To measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with uveitis using time trade-off (TTO) and standard gamble (SG) methods of direct utility analysis.

Methods: Consecutive patients attending a tertiary referral uveitis clinic were administered standardised, interview-delivered TTO and SG questionnaires and completed the European Quality of Life Five Dimensions Five Level (EQ5D-5L) questionnaire. Clinical data recorded included best-corrected visual acuity, uveitis anatomical and clinical classifications, duration since diagnosis, disease activity, current medication and any ocular or systemic comorbidities.