The visual performance and metamorphopsia of patients with macular holes.

Background: Most patients attain better visual acuity with the elimination of metamorphopsia after successful closure of a macular hole (MH) by vitrectomy.

Objective: To determine the presurgical visual function of eyes with an MH.

Methods: We examined 54 eyes of 51 patients with an idiopathic MH using the Amsler chart.

Analysis of vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole by optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: To evaluate foveal structure after vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole in relation to postoperative visual outcome.

Methods: Optical coherence tomography was performed postoperatively to assess retinal thickness at the foveal center in patients who underwent vitrectomy, posterior hyaloid membrane removal, and perfluoropropane gas tamponade for idiopathic macular hole. Thirty-seven eyes of 36 patients documented to have achieved anatomic hole closure by optical coherence tomography were included in the study.

Nonvitrectomizing vitreous surgery: a strategy to prevent postoperative nuclear sclerosis.

Objective: The development or progression of postoperative nuclear sclerosis is the most common complication of successful vitrectomy in elderly patients. The authors treated idiopathic epimacular proliferation (EMP) with nonvitrectomizing vitreous surgery in an attempt to prevent postoperative nuclear sclerosis.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, comparative case series.

Prevention of visual field defect after macular hole surgery by passing air used for fluid-air exchange through water.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect on peripheral visual field defects occurring after macular hole surgery of passing air that is used for fluid-air exchange through water before infusion to the eye.

Methods: We used Goldmann perimetry to measure the visual fields of patients who underwent vitrectomy to manage idiopathic full-thickness macular holes using either room air or humidified air for fluid-air exchange. We retrospectively studied visual fields measured in 39 patients (group 1) who underwent vitrectomy without humidification of air and prospectively studied visual fields measured in 33 patients (group 2) who consecutively underwent vitrectomy with humidified air for fluid-air exchange.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections after scleral buckling procedures for retinal detachments associated with atopic dermatitis.

Objective: To determine the incidence and the clinical course of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a cause of acute-onset infections in patients with atopic dermatitis after a scleral buckling procedures.

Design: A retrospective chart review.

Participants: Two hundred eighty-seven patients (293 eyes) who underwent scleral buckling procedures to treat rhegmatogenous retinal detachments at either Osaka Rosai Hospital or Osaka University Medical School between July 1, 1995, and June 30, 1997, participated.

Anatomic and functional recovery of the fovea after foveal translocation surgery without large retinotomy and simultaneous excision of a neovascular membrane.

Purpose: To document the anatomic and functional recovery of the fovea after foveal translocation surgery with scleral shortening and simultaneous excision of a neovascular membrane in a patient with age-related macular degeneration.

Method: Case report.

Results: The visual acuity of a 54-year-old woman with age-related macular degeneration improved from 20/200 to 20/50 after excision of subretinal neovascular membrane and foveal translocation surgery in the right eye.

Pneumatic displacement of subretinal hemorrhage without tissue plasminogen activator.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and complications of intravitreal injection of perfluoropropane gas for displacement of subretinal hemorrhage (SRH), without the use of tissue plasminogen activator.

Patients And Methods: Pure perfluoropropane gas (0.4-0.

Chorioretinal damage caused by the excision of choroidal neovascularization.

Purpose: To determine whether choroidal neovascularization excision causes mechanical damage to the neurosensory retina, retinal pigment epithelium, or choriocapillaris.

Methods: Prospectively, 18 eyes of 18 consecutive patients who underwent choroidal neovascularization excision were observed. Preoperatively and postoperatively, the integrity of the choriocapillaris circulation in the pathway of choroidal neovascularization extraction was studied by fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography.

Photocoagulation and fluid-gas exchange to treat persistent macular holes after prior vitrectomy. A pilot study.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the efficacy of photocoagulation to the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and fluid-gas exchange (FGX) in the treatment of persistent macular holes.

Design: A clinical trial.

Participants: Thirteen eyes of 12 patients who had undergone photocoagulation to the RPE and FGX for persistent macular holes after initial vitrectomy and gas tamponade were examined.

Visual function after foveal translocation with scleral shortening in patients with myopic neovascular maculopathy.

Purpose: To document the visual outcome after successful foveal translocation with intentional retinal detachment and scleral shortening for the treatment of myopic neovascular maculopathy.

Methods: Two severely myopic patients with subfoveal neovascular membranes underwent surgical translocation of the fovea to an area of healthy retinal pigment epithelium by means of scleral shortening and intentional retinal detachment. In the postoperative period, monocular and binocular visual function were studied.

Foveal translocation: a comparison of two techniques.

Subfoveal choroidal neovascular membrane is a leading cause of legal blindness. Photocoagulation has been effective, but photocoagulation of the fovea causes a decrease in vision immediately after treatment. Surgical removal of the choroidal neovascular membrane is effective for choroidal neovascular membrane in some cases, but it restores useful vision for reading (20/40 or better) in a small number of cases of choroidal neovascular membrane not due to presumed ocular histoplasmosis syndrome.

Subretinal fluid drainage with the erbium:YAG laser in rabbit eyes.

Background And Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser for choroidotomy as a means of performing external drainage of subretinal fluid with less risk of choroidal bleeding.

Materials And Methods: The authors tested this application in a rabbit model of retinal detachment by evaluating the effects of Er:YAG laser energy on the bare choroid at various energy settings (1, 2, 3, or 5 mJ/pulse) and repetition rates (2, 4, 10, or 30 Hz).

Results: Although the choroid was not perforated at low energy and frequency settings, choroidotomy was successfully achieved as energy and repetition rate were increased.

Diamond-dusted silicone cannula for epiretinal membrane separation during vitreous surgery.

Purpose: To report a diamond-dusted silicone cannula as a tool for membrane separation during vitreous surgery.

Methods: A diamond-dusted silicone cannula was fashioned from flexible silicone tubing with a beveled tip and coated with diamond fragments for use during vitreous surgery.

Results: The instrument was used successfully in seven eyes with idiopathic macular hole and was found to be particularly useful for removing residual vitreous cortex and epiretinal membranes from around the hole.

The double-mirror gonioscopic lens for surgery of the anterior chamber angle.

Intraoperative examination of the anterior chamber angle is necessary during several glaucoma procedures, including goniosynechialysis and goniotomy. Many of the available lenses for this purpose are difficult to use because they require oblique illumination and their size interferes with surgical manipulations at the limbus. We have developed a double-mirror gonioscopic lens that uses direct illumination; provides an upright image of angle structures; and has a small diameter, allowing simultaneous access to the entire limbal region.

An applicator-shaped scleral depressor for vitreoretinal surgery.

This article describes an instrument that combines a standard T-shaped scleral depressor at one end with a cotton applicator-shaped depressor at the other end. The applicator-shaped depressor has a matted surface to prevent slippage. This simple instrument has several advantages over depressors now available for intraoperative use.

Sulfur hexafluoride and perfluoropropane do not escape from a plastic syringe closed with a stopcock.

Purpose: To evaluate during various intervals of time the escape of long-acting gases contained in a plastic syringe closed with a stopcock or a plastic cap.

Methods: A 60-ml plastic syringe was filled or partially filled with a long-acting gas, either sulfur hexafluoride or perfluoropropane. The tip of the syringe was closed with either a stopcock or the syringe's plastic cap.

Differentiating full thickness macular holes from impending macular holes and macular pseudoholes.

Aims: The reliability of scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) microperimetry in differentiating full thickness macular holes from macular pseudoholes and impending macular holes was evaluated.

Methods: 106 eyes with the clinical diagnosis of full thickness macular holes, macular pseudoholes, and impending (stage 1) macular holes were examined for the presence of deep or relative scotoma using SLO microperimetry. The relation between these scotomas and the clinical diagnosis was studied.

Horizontal transposition of vertical rectus muscles for treatment of excyclotropia.

Background: Horizontal transposition of the vertical rectus muscles has been performed for treatment of excyclotropia associated with congenital absence of the superior oblique, and for residual excyclotropia after the Harada-Ito operation. However, the amount of excyclotropia that can be corrected and whether this technique alters the vertical muscle balance is not well known. We report the surgical results of three patients with pure excyclotropia who underwent unilateral one-half tendon width horizontal transpositions of vertical rectus muscles.

A technique for contact lens fixation during vitreous surgery.

The authors describe a technique for contact lens fixation during vitreous surgery. A contact lens support ring was designed that requires only a single suture for fixation and provides improved stability and centering of a sutured fundus contact lens. These features save time and allow concentration on the surgical goals rather than on the contact lens.

A new wound healing model of retinal pigment epithelial cells in sheet culture.

Purpose: To evaluate some RPE cell functions, such as wound healing, in a preparation more similar to in situ conditions, we developed a method to obtain and culture retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells as a sheet. And we assessed the effects of fetal bovine serum (FBS) on the rate of RPE wound healing.

Methods: We prepared RPE sheet cultures by incubating rat eyes in 0.

Cytokine effects on phagocytosis of rod outer segments by retinal pigment epithelial cells of normal and dystrophic rats.

Purpose: Phagocytosis of rod outer segments (ROS) is an important function of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Since the details of the process are not fully known, we studied effects of cytokines produced by RPE and photoreceptor cells on phagocytosis of ROS by rat RPE cells.

Methods: RPE cells were isolated and cultivated from two strains of rats: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with normal phagocytosis and Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats, which have genetic deficiencies in ROS phagocytosis.