Effect of brimonidine tartrate on basophil activation in glaucoma patients.

Aim: To evaluate the mechanism of which brimonidine tartrate 0.15% causes clinical hypersensitivity.

Methods: A prospective case-control study comparing 8 glaucoma patients with clinical hypersensitivity to brimonidine to a control group consisting 13 healthy volunteers.

Effect of Corneal Thickness on the Penetration of Topical Vancomycin.

Purpose: To study the influence of corneal thickness on intraocular penetration of topical ophthalmic drops, using vancomycin 50 mg/mL drops as a model.

Methods: The study included 58 eyes of 58 patients undergoing phacoemulsification cataract extraction. The central corneal thickness was measured by ultrasonic pachymetry on the day of surgery.

Intense exercise causing central retinal vein occlusion in a young patient: case report and review of the literature.

We report a 19-year-old patient who developed a central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) with significant macular edema and visual impairment following intense exercise and dehydration. The patient was treated with 3 intravitreal bevacizumab injections with complete resolution. A review of the literature on the cause and treatment for CRVO in young patients was performed, focusing on the role of intense exercise and dehydration as a rare pathogenesis mechanism of CRVO.

Urrets-Zavalia syndrome (fixed and dilated pupil following penetrating keratoplasty for keratoconus) and its variants.

Urrets-Zavalia Syndrome (UZS) was described 50 years ago as the appearance of a fixed and dilated pupil following penetrating keratoplasty for keratoconus in patients receiving atropine. The mechanism of UZS has still not been fully determined, but an acute increase in intraocular pressure and ischemia of the iris most probably play a major role. Fixed and dilated pupils also occur in association with other ophthalmic surgeries, such as lamellar keratoplasties, cataract surgery, and glaucoma procedures.

Intraocular pressure reduction using a fixed combination of timolol maleate 0.5% and brimonidine tartrate 0.2% administered three times daily.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a fixed combination of timolol maleate 0.5% + brimonidine tartrate 0.2% (Combigan®) for reduction for intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma when the dose frequency is increased from twice to three times daily.

Pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft: true survival rate statistics.

Purpose: To evaluate the factors influencing long-term survival rate (ie, probability of recurrence-free eye over time) after pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. All patients who underwent excision of pterygium and conjunctival autograft at a single institution by the same surgeon during the years from 1997 to 2008 were included.

Intraocular pressure reduction of fixed combination timolol maleate 0.5% and dorzolamide 2% (Cosopt) administered three times a day.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy in intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction of increasing Cosopt dosage from twice to three times a day.

Methods: The study included patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. After a washout period, IOP was measured at baseline, after 4 weeks of treatment with Cosopt twice a day, and after another 4 weeks of treatment with Cosopt three times a day.

Double use of corneal graft for Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty and coverage of glaucoma drainage device tube.

Purpose: To describe the efficacy and safety of using a single corneal graft for 2 different ocular surgeries, Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty in one patient and coverage of a glaucoma drainage device tube in another patient.

Materials And Methods: The records of 12 consecutive patients who underwent Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation using the anterior lamella of a donor cornea that had been previously used for Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty were reviewed.

Results: Nine eyes (75%) had superotemporal Ahmed valve implantation and 3 eyes (25%) had inferotemporal implantation.

Effect of brimonidine tartrate 0.10% ophthalmic solution on pupil diameter.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of brimonidine tartrate 0.10% ophthalmic solution on pupil diameter under light and dark luminance conditions.

Setting: Ophthalmology Department, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Comparison of the transpalpebral tonometer TGDc-01 with Goldmann applanation tonometry.

Purpose: This study aimed to compare intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements obtained by the transpalpebral tonometer TGDc-01 and by the Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT).

Methods: IOP was measured by the conventional GAT and the TGDc-01 tonometer. Central corneal thickness (CCT) was measured for all eyes.

Measurements of intraocular pressure by Goldmann tonometry, Tonopen XL, and the transpalpebral tonometer, TGDc-01, after penetrating keratoplasty: a comparativye study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements obtained by Goldmann tonometry (GT), the Tonopen XL, and a new transpalpebral tonometer, TGDc-01, in eyes that had undergone penetrating keratoplasty (PKP).

Methods: IOP was measured in post-PKP eyes by means of GT, Tonopen XL, and TGDc-01. Central corneal thickness measurements were also obtained for all eyes.

Pressure phosphene tonometry versus Goldmann applanation tonometry for measuring intraocular pressure before and after LASIK.

Purpose: To compare pressure phosphene tonometry with Goldmann applanation tonometry for measuring intraocular pressure (IOP) before and after LASIK.

Methods: Forty-three (18 men and 25 women) consecutive healthy patients underwent complete pre- and postoperative LASIK ophthalmologic assessments including manifest and cycloplegic refraction, keratometry, and central corneal thickness. Three repetitive sets of pressure phosphene tonometry and Goldmann applanation tonometry measurements were performed the day before and 3 months following uneventful LASIK.

Air transportation of corneal tissue: experience with local compared to transatlantic donor corneas.

Purpose: To compare the outcome of corneas obtained at the same hospital in which they were transplanted (group 1) to that of corneas obtained in the United States and grafted in Israel (group 2).

Methods: One hundred twenty-six patients undergoing corneal grafting in Israel during the years 1995 to 1998 were included in a retrospective, nonrandomized clinical trial. Group 1 included 31 procedures, and group 2 included 95.

Effect of brimonidine tartrate 0.2% ophthalmic solution on pupil size.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of brimonidine tartrate 0.2% ophthalmic solution on pupil size under scotopic and photopic luminance conditions in persons considering laser refractive surgery.

Setting: Ophthalmic Health Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Interferon alpha-2a for proliferative diabetic retinopathy after complete laser panretinal photocoagulation treatment.

Background And Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of interferon alpha-2a, an angiogenesis inhibitor, on eyes with active neovascularization after complete laser panretinal photocoagulation treatment.

Patients And Methods: Eight patients with active neovascularization persisting for 6 months or more after completion of full panretinal photocoagulation were included in the study. All patients were treated with subcutaneous injections of 6 million international units of interferon alpha-2a, 3 times a week, for an average period of 10 months.

Heterozygous mutations of the kinesin KIF21A in congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles type 1 (CFEOM1).

Congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles type 1 (CFEOM1; OMIM #135700) is an autosomal dominant strabismus disorder associated with defects of the oculomotor nerve. We show that individuals with CFEOM1 harbor heterozygous missense mutations in a kinesin motor protein encoded by KIF21A. We identified six different mutations in 44 of 45 probands.

Colchicine in tear fluid of treated patients with familial Mediterranean fever.

Purpose: The study aimed to determine whether detectable concentrations of colchicine are present in the tear fluid of treated patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and thus demonstrate a possible route by which colchicine reaches the corneal surface.

Methods: Tear fluid samples (50-100 microL) were collected from eight FMF patients on long-term colchicine treatment. Colchicine tear fluid concentrations were determined in all patients by radioimmunoassay using goat anticolchicine antibodies and [3H]colchicine (Dupont, Wilmington, DE).

Hyperhomocystinemia in pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of hyperhomocystinemia in patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.

Patients And Methods: This prospective study included 30 patients with glaucoma and 30 age-matched controls with no history of ocular disease who were undergoing routine physical checkups. Plasma homocysteine levels of all the study participants were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography, and values exceeding 15 micromol/L were considered elevated.

Retinal pathology occurring after excimer laser surgery or phakic intraocular lens implantation: evaluation of possible relationship.

The increasing number of patients undergoing refractive surgery has led to an awareness of the potential retinal complications of these procedures. The purpose of this review is to summarize the reports of retinal pathology and myopic maculopathy that have occurred after excimer refractive surgery or implantation of phakic intraocular lenses, and to evaluate theoretical pathogenetic mechanisms. We found it reasonable to conclude that retinal detachments and macular hemorrhages are not caused by laser surgery, but are rather characteristic of the natural history in the myopic eye.