Dosage dependency of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide as treatment for diabetic macular oedema.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of different doses of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide on diffuse diabetic macular oedema.

Methods: The prospective, randomised, double masked, clinical interventional study included 27 eyes (27 patients) with diffuse diabetic macular oedema. They were randomly divided into three study groups receiving an intravitreal injection of filtered triamcinolone acetonide of about 2 mg (n = 8 eyes), 5 mg (n = 10), or 13 mg (n = 9), respectively.

Triamcinolone acetonide concentration after filtration of the solvent agent.

Purpose: To determine the amount of triamcinolone acetonide and the preservative benzyl alcohol after filtration.

Design: Laboratory investigation.

Methods: The probes were prepared by two different hospital pharmacies.

[New diagnostic aids in automatic perimetry].

The Conformity Analysis is a new procedure for objective recognition of specific defect patterns in automated perimetry. The "Conformity Index," the measure of conformity between the distribution of defect values and several standard defect patterns, is calculated from the ratio of global variance and mean variance in particular regions. Using 68 visual fields from 68 normal persons, we determined normal values and limits of the Conformity Index for seven standard defect patterns: hemifields right-left, hemifields upper-lower, quadrants, sectors, rings with 5 degrees and 10 degrees radius interval and the perimetric nerve fiber bundles of Weber and Ulrich.

[Cartographic errors in perimetry].

Cartography in perimetry repeats the problem of the cartography of the globe: it is impossible to transfer the image properly without a distortion of either angles, distances or areas. The projection type mostly used in perimetry leads to an enlargement and a tangential deformation that increases overproportionally towards the periphery (30 degrees: +5%, 60 degrees: +20%, 90 degrees: +57%). A circular scotoma, for example, is charted as en ellipse.

[Graphic analysis of topographic trends in perimetry follow-up of glaucoma].

GATT is a new, graphic method of showing the development of visual fields in glaucoma and other diseases. The grayscale maps of a series of two or four fields are superimposed with a simple logic, producing the following pattern: all stable areas are displayed in the usual way, thus giving defects a typical appearance. Changed areas appear as stripes, alternately showing the grayscale of the two fields.

[A simple point score for definition of the risk of postoperative complications].

During a 5-year-period we recorded prospectively 5,823 patients who had undergone general surgery and documented the postoperative complications as wound infection, pneumonia, reoperations and death. A score including all these complications was developed to evaluate the risk of an operation more exactly than using the wound infection rate alone. This method seems to provide a continuous monitoring and the comparison of the complication risks of certain operations within a quality assurance program.