Early treatment with dexamethasone intravitreal implants in diabetic macular edema: Naïve versus refractory patients.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of dexamethasone 0.7 mg implants (DEX-I) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) either naïve to therapy or refractory to anti-VEGF treatment, in a single-center, real-world setting.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with DME and treated with DEX-I were retrospectively enrolled in the study and split in two groups: naïve (Group 1,  = 64) and refractory (Group 2,  = 64) to treatment.

Sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma/acute B-cell leukaemia presenting with progressive proptosis and orbital mass in a child.

Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is found predominantly in children, with the highest incidence occurring in Africa. The sporadic form occurs in non-endemic areas and typically involves the ileo-caecum and the bowel, whereas orbital and paranasal sinus involvement is rare. Here, we present an unusual case of sporadic BL in a Caucasian male child with rapidly progressive painful proptosis of the right eye.

OUTER RETINAL TUBULATION: Characteristics in Patients With Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To assess the incidence, characteristics, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), and retinal sensitivity correlations in patients with and without outer retinal tubulation (ORT) affected by subfoveal choroidal neovascularization due to neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Prospective case series including 78 eyes of 78 consecutive patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization due to neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Baseline and follow-up visits included BCVA, intraocular pressure, ophthalmoscopic examination, CMT as measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography, and retinal sensitivity tested with fundus-related perimetry (MP-1).

Ruthenium-106 brachytherapy and intravitreal bevacizumab for retinal capillary hemangioma.

The purpose of this study is to report a case of retinal capillary hemangioma treated with ruthenium-106 brachytherapy combined with intravitreal bevacizumab. A 58-year-old woman presented with blurred vision in her left eye for 15 days. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was counting fingers at 3 m in her left eye.

Lamellar macular hole following intravitreal pegaptanib sodium (Macugen) injection for diabetic macular edema.

To report on a patient who developed a lamellar macular hole 1 month after an intravitreal pegaptanib sodium injection. Interventional case report. A 66 year old patient developed a lamellar macular hole 1 month after an intravitreal pegaptanib sodium injection for diabetic macular edema (DME).

Risk factors for graft failure after penetrating keratoplasty: 5-year follow-up from the corneal transplant epidemiological study.

Purpose: To evaluate corneal graft survival over a 5-year period and to investigate whether factors related to the donor, eye bank practices, the recipient, surgery, and postoperative course influenced the outcome.

Methods: Nine hundred ninety-eight patients were randomly selected and monitored in the subsequent 3 years from a cohort of 4500 recipients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty between 2001 and 2004. Cox univariate regression analysis was used to select variables to be included in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model with a backward selection procedure to identify potential risk factors for graft failure.

Intravitreal avastin for choroidal neovascularization associated with stargardt-like retinal abnormalities in pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

The aim of the study was to describe a patient with pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), showing Stargardt-like retinal abnormalities, who underwent treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) of the right eye (RE). A 57-year-old woman with diagnosis of angioid streaks, retinal flecks, and chorioretinal Stargardt-like atrophy due to PXE was referred to our department for sudden decreased vision in her RE (20/160). Upon a complete ophthalmologic examination, including fluorescein angiography (FA), and optical coherence tomography (OCT), the patient was diagnosed with subfoveal CNV of the RE.

Late-onset Leber hereditary optic neuropathy mimicking Susac's syndrome.

Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrial disorder characterized by bilateral painless optic atrophy and blindness. It usually occurs in young men in association with three major mutations in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). We report a patient with a history of alcohol abuse who developed at age 63 years visual impairment, sensorineural hearing loss, and memory dysfunction, suggestive of Susac's syndrome.

Very Large Bilateral Lesions Obscuring Diagnosis of Adult-Onset Foveomacular Vitelliform Dystrophy.

Adult-onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy (AFVD) is a clinically heterogeneous and pleomorphic disease originally described by Gass as bilateral with symmetrical, solitary, round or oval, slightly elevated, yellowish subretinal lesions, one third to one disc diameter in size, often with a central pigmented spot. A possible AFVD patient showing very large bilateral macular lesions was reported.

Functional and clinical data of Best vitelliform macular dystrophy patients with mutations in the BEST1 gene.

Purpose: To analyze functional and clinical data of Best vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD) patients with mutations in the BEST1 gene.

Methods: Best VMD patients with BEST1 mutations were evaluated prospectively regarding age, age of onset, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography, and electro-oculography. Mutations in BEST1 were established by direct sequencing.

High-Definition OCT Findings in Acute Posterior Multifocal Placoid Pigment Epitheliopathy.

The authors report a case of acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy evaluated by autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, high-definition optical coherence tomography, and microperimetry in both the acute and the post-acute phase. Based on the integrated findings, the authors believe that acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy is an inflammatory disease that primarily affects the choroid and that the retinal pigment epithelium is secondarily involved in the course of the disease.

Local resection versus combined local resection and plaque radiotherapy in the treatment of choroidal melanoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the outcome of local resection versus combined local resection and plaque radiotherapy in the treatment of choroidal melanoma.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 60 patients (60 eyes) managed by local resection (group 1, 30 patients, external or internal local resection) or combined local resection and plaque radiotherapy (group 2, 30 patients, both Ruthenium-106 or Cobalt-60), among the 364 melanomas treated at our Department of Ophthalmology, between January 1980 and December 2006. Main outcomes measures were postsurgical complications, visual acuity, local recurrence, reasons for enucleation, and development of metastasis.

Foveal geographic atrophy following intravitreal pegaptanib sodium (Macugen) for drusenoid pigment epithelium detachment.

Purpose: To describe a patient with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who underwent intravitreal pegaptanib sodium injection for drusenoid pigment epithelium detachment (PED).

Methods: A 66-year-old woman, who underwent intravitreal pegaptanib sodium injection in her right eye (RE) for chronic serous drusenoid PED, was submitted to a complete ophthalmologic examination, including fundus biomicroscopy, fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and optical coherence tomography (OCT-3, Humphrey-Zeiss, San Leandro, CA), 3 days and 1 month after the treatment.

Results: Three days after the intravitreal pegaptanib sodium injection, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/32 in the RE.

Short-term fluctuation of diabetic macular edema after intravitreal ranibizumab injection.

Purpose: To examine the short-term fluctuation of diabetic macular edema (DME) after one intravitreal ranibizumab injection.

Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with DME received an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab (0.05 mL/0.

Selective laser trabeculoplasty versus argon laser trabeculoplasty in patients with uncontrolled open-angle glaucoma.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) to argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT) as treatment and retreatment to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with uncontrolled open-angle glaucoma (OAG) on maximally tolerated medication therapy with a follow-up of 12 months.

Methods: A total of 120 eyes of 120 patients with uncontrolled OAG were enrolled in the study. Group A included patients with IOP >22 mmHg on maximal medical therapy.

Clinical efficacy of a Ginkgo biloba extract in the topical treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.

Purpose: To investigate the clinical efficacy of a Ginkgo biloba extract associated with hyaluronic acid ophthalmic solution (GB-HA, Trium, SOOFT, Italy), compared to hyaluronic acid ophthalmic solution (HA) alone, in seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (AC).

Methods: A total of 60 patients with symptomatic AC were enrolled and randomly assigned to the two treatment regimens. After a washout period of 15 days, the treatment with GB-HA eyedrops or HA ophthalmic solution alone was initiated and continued for 1 month.

Bevacizumab compared with macular laser grid photocoagulation for cystoid macular edema in branch retinal vein occlusion.

Introduction: To evaluate the outcome of cystoid macular edema treated with intravitreal injections of bevacizumab and macular grid laser photocoagulation (GLP), in patients with perfused branch retinal vein occlusion.

Methods: Thirty eyes of 30 consecutive patients with cystoid macular edema secondary to nonischemic branch retinal vein occlusion were assigned to either GLP group or to intravitreal bevacizumab (IB) group. Complete ophthalmologic examinations were performed just before GLP and IB injection at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment.

Linkage analysis in keratoconus: replication of locus 5q21.2 and identification of other suggestive Loci.

Purpose: Keratoconus (KC) is the most common indication for corneal transplantation in the Western world, with etiologic mechanisms still poorly understood. The disease prevalence in the general population is approximately 1:2000, and familial aggregation, together with increased familial risk, suggests important genetic influences on its pathogenesis. To date, several loci for familial keratoconus have been described, without the identification of any responsible gene in the respective mapped intervals.

Short-term safety and efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab for pseudophakic cystoid macular edema.

Purpose: : To determine the feasibility, safety, and clinical effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with refractory cystoid macular edema after uncomplicated cataract surgery.

Methods: : Ten eyes of 10 patients affected by pseudophakic cystoid macular edema refractory to medical treatment treated with at least one intravitreal injection of 1.25 mg of bevacizumab were enrolled in the study.

Vitreomacular traction syndrome with an outer macular hole.

Purpose: To describe a patient with a large idiopathic partial-thickness macular hole involving the outer layers of the retina.

Methods: We performed complete ophthalmologic examination, including fluorescein angiography, B-scan ultrasonography, and optical coherence tomography, on an 81-year-old woman who was referred to our department with the clinical suspicion of a stage 3 full-thickness macular hole in the left eye.

Results: After complete ophthalmologic examination, the patient was diagnosed with vitreomacular traction syndrome due to a prefoveal partial posterior vitreous detachment causing tangential outward traction on the fovea.