Safety and feasibility of a novel intravitreal tamponade using a silicone oil/acetyl-salicylic acid suspension for proliferative vitreoretinopathy: first results of the Austrian Clinical Multicenter Study.

Background: The safety and efficacy of a new surgical method of intravitreal tamponade using silicone oil suspended with aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) was investigated for the treatment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

Methods: The study was designed as a prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind multicenter study. A total of 29 patients were included; 15 patients were treated with the silicone oil suspended with aspirin, and 14 patients represented the control group receiving only silicone oil.

Anterior segment changes in rabbits after experimental aqueous replacement with various amounts of different perfluorocarbon liquids.

Background: We evaluated biomicroscopic and histological effects on the anterior segment in the rabbit eye after temporary aqueous substitution with various amounts (0.2 cc and 0.025 cc) of perfluorodecaline (PFD) and perfluorophenanthrene (PFP).

Experimental vitreous and aqueous replacement with perfluorophenanthrene. Clinical, histologic, and electrophysiologic results.

Purpose: Anterior and posterior segment changes of experimental vitreous and aqueous substitution with Perfluorophenanthrene were evaluated.

Methods: In 28 rabbit eyes that underwent vitrectomy, tamponades of 1.2 cc Perfluorophenanthrene remained as long as 8 weeks under clinical and electrophysiologic control.

Intraocular silicone lenses in silicone oil: an experimental study.

Background: To evaluate a potential effect of silicone oil on flexible silicone intraocular lenses, four lenses (STAAR AA-4203) were stored in silicone oil under sterile conditions for periods between 1 month and 3 years.

Method: The edge and surface of the lenses were examined by scanning electron micrography and the findings compared with a lens of the same model which had been stored in Ringer's solution for 2 years.

Results: After 1 year of silicone oil exposure, droplets of different sizes adherent to the surface of the lens were found.

Use of perfluorocarbon liquids in proliferative vitreoretinopathy: results and complications.

Background: The present study was set up to evaluate the influence of perfluorocarbon liquids on the postoperative anatomical and functional results as well as on the complication rates in eyes with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR).

Methods: Sixty five consecutive eyes (64 patients) with PVR in different stages requiring surgical intervention where liquid perfluorocarbons were used were compared with 64 consecutive eyes (62 patients) operated without the help of perfluorocarbon immediately before this time. Both groups were similar with regard to severity of PVR, number of operations, and initial visual acuity.

The effect of chemical stability and purification of perfluorocarbon liquids in experimental extended-term vitreous substitution.

Background: To determine the importance of chemical stability and purification of perfluorocarbon liquids (PFCLs) in experimental retinal tolerance, we tested four different substances as long-term vitreous tamponade: purified and nonpurified perfluorodecalin (PFD) and perfluoro-octyl-bromide (PFOB).

Method: After mechanical vitrectomy we replaced the vitreous of 65 rabbit eyes. Five groups were formed; four of them received the four PFCLs, while one served as control and received Ringer solution.

Experimental perforating injury with high energy electrons to inhibit intraocular proliferation.

Since 1980, the fibroblast model creating experimental proliferative vitreoretinopathy has been used to evaluate the antiproliferative effect of various drugs. In previous studies radiation therapy was found to reduce effectively intraocular proliferation in this model. We therefore investigated the effect of high energy electrons in a standard perforating injury model creating a traumatic proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

Radiation therapy in proliferative vitreoretinopathy. A prospective randomized study.

In a prospective study of the effect of postoperative radiation therapy for the prevention of reproliferation of membranes and recurrent proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) two similar groups of patients with retinal detachment and PVR grade D1 to D3 in one eye were compared. Half the eyes (30) received a total dose of 3000 cGy after surgery; the other half remained untreated. After a follow-up of 6 months and 14 months or more (maximum 36 months) the anatomical and functional results of each group were compared.

Retinal detachment with severe proliferative vitreoretinopathy in Terson syndrome.

Background: In several reports, early vitrectomy has been proposed for eyes with vitreous hemorrhage due to Terson syndrome as a means to hasten visual recovery. But the development of nuclear sclerosis and the neurologic problems arising from this disease encourage surgeons to wait for spontaneous resorption, especially with young patients. Although the formation of epiretinal membranes has been described, to the authors' knowledge retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy in Terson syndrome never has been observed.

The antiproliferative effect of fractionized radiation therapy: optimization of dosage.

Fractionized radiation therapy with high-energy electrons have proven to reduce retinal detachment rate from 85% to 5% in the fibroblast model using a dosage of 3000 rad, starting from the first postoperative day. The purpose of this study is to gain more information about the therapeutic range of fractionized radiation therapy in experimental PVR. We therefore investigated the efficacy of this therapy when the total dose is reduced to 2000 rad.

Experimental long-term vitreous replacement with purified and nonpurified perfluorodecalin.

Highly purified perfluorodecalin and non-purified perfluorodecalin were injected into 34 rabbit eyes after mechanical vitrectomy, to evaluate the retinal tolerance in long-term vitreous replacement and the effect of purification on the retina. Unpurified perfluorodecalin caused severe inflammation and retinal damage and eight of ten eyes had developed retinal detachment after four weeks. In the eyes injected with highly purified perfluorodecalin, we observed retinal changes of the rod and cone, outer nuclear, and ganglion-cell layers after two weeks, which progressed to a thinning of all layers of the retina by the fourth week and to localized areas of retinal atrophy by the eighth week in the lower part of the eyes.

Irradiation pretreatment before fibroblast implantation in experimental PVR.

Fibroblast injection into the vitreous body causes traction detachment in the rabbit's eye. Various working groups reported different results on the main causes of the development of experimental PVR. These contradictions encouraged us to investigate the main source of experimental PVR by irradiating the ocular tissues before fibroblast implantation thus suppressing cell proliferation originating from host tissue.

Ocular findings in asymptomatic amateur boxers.

A group of 25 active, asymptomatic, amateur boxers were examined to evaluate the nature and incidence of ocular pathologic conditions in amateur boxing. An approximately age-matched group of 25 men who were not boxers was used as a control group. The number of fights varied from 1 to 220 (mean 39.

[Does cataract surgery with lens implantation influence the course of age-related macular degeneration?].

To evaluate the influence of cataract surgery with posterior chamber lens implantation on preexisting macular degeneration we divided 60 eyes of 54 patients in a group with 1) preoperative non exudative macular degeneration (50 eyes/47 patients) and 2) preoperative exudative macular degeneration (10 eyes/9 patients). Postoperatively, we found in the first group a visual improvement in 64%, an unchanged vision in 28%, and a deterioration in 8% of the cases. In the late postoperative course all eyes showed a visual acuity at least as preoperative values (6 eyes).

Does vitrectomy followed by intraocular gas tamponade offer sufficiently effective treatment of retinal detachment due to holes in the posterior pole?

We report on 17 consecutive cases of retinal detachment due to macular hole surgically treated by one of the authors (S.B.) between the fall of 1982 and 1985.

[Differential diagnosis of papilledema].

Terminology, pathogenesis and differential diagnosis of papilloedema are discussed. A series of 100 consecutive patients with optic disc swelling is reviewed. Increased intracerebral pressure accounted for 32% of the cases.

[Vitrectomy in uveitis].

Between January 1976 and December 1983, at the First University Eye Clinic in Vienna, 568 vitrectomies and 287 lensectomies were carried out; in 69 of these interventions (20 lensectomies and 49 vitrectomies) the diagnosis was uveitis. In 24 cases the indication for vitrectomy was an intermediary uveitis, a post-traumatic uveitis in 4 and a sympathetic uveitis in 6 cases as well as suppurative endophthalmitis in 7 patients. Indications for surgical removal of pathological tissue from the anterior chamber by the use of vitrectomy instrumentation were, in 4 cases each, hypopioniritis and a hemorrhagic uveitis, and in 12 cases a phacogenic uveitis.