Outbreak of contact lens-related Fusarium keratitis in France.

Background/aims: In the context of a recent series of Fusarium keratitis cases in Singapore and the United States, we describe an outbreak of fungal keratitis attributable to Fusarium species among contact lens wearers in France.

Methods: Hospital-based case series. All cases of Fusarium keratitis diagnosed in Department of Ophthalmology of the Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts in Paris were reviewed from January 2004 through November 2006.

Pigmentary glaucoma secondary to in-the-bag intraocular lens implantation.

After uneventful phacoemulsification and in-the-bag implantation of an AcrySof SA60AT (Alcon) intraocular lens (IOL), a 52-year-old black man developed pigmentary glaucoma. Slitlamp examination, anterior segment optical coherence tomography, and ultrasound biomicroscopy showed that the posterior surface of the iris was being rubbed by the inferior haptic of the IOL, which was in the bag but deformed. Filtering surgery was needed to control the intraocular pressure.

Comparison of techniques used for removing the recipient stroma in anterior lamellar keratoplasty.

Objective: To compare 3 techniques used for removing the recipient stroma during anterior lamellar keratoplasty (ALK): the "big-bubble" technique, manual dissection using a crescent blade and slitlamp operating microscope, and microkeratome lamellar cut.

Design: Retrospective comparative cohort study of 69 consecutive ALKs and 69 consecutive penetrating keratoplasties (PKs). Manifest refraction, slitlamp examination, Goldmann tonometry, ultrasound pachymetry, specular microscopy, and confocal microscopy findings were recorded.

Comparison of optical low-coherence reflectometry and ultrasound pachymetry in measuring corneal graft thickness.

Purpose: To compare optical low-coherence reflectometry (OLCR) and ultrasound pachymetry in measuring corneal graft thickness in patients after keratoplasty.

Methods: We retrospectively measured the central graft thickness in 41 eyes of 41 patients with the OLCR pachymeter (Haag Streit, Koeniz, Switzerland) and the SP-2000 contact ultrasound pachymeter (Tomey, Nagoya, Japan). Five separate measurements were performed on each eye with both methods.

[I have tested for you. Pachymetry devices].

Different techniques are currently available to measure central corneal thickness: optical pachymetry, ultrasound pachymetry, optical coherence pachymetry, slit-scanning pachymetry, specular microscopy, and confocal microscopy. Ultrasound pachymetry is the gold standard. It is a noncontact and rapid technique with high precision, approximately 1%.

Graft reepithelialization after penetrating keratoplasty using organ-cultured donor tissue.

Objective: To analyze graft reepithelialization after penetrating keratoplasty using organ-cultured donor tissue.

Design: Retrospective observational cohort study.

Participants: One thousand one hundred thirty-eight consecutive penetrating keratoplasties (1003 patients) performed between 1992 and 2004 were analyzed, and 1003 were included (1 graft per patient was included).

Corneal epithelial cultures generated from organ-cultured limbal tissue: factors influencing epithelial cell growth.

Purpose: To explore the in vitro proliferative potential of human limbal epithelial cells after 31 degrees C organ-culture storage and to investigate putative factors influencing it.

Methods: 185 cultures of limbal explants were carried-out either from full-thickness explants (n = 102) or from enzymatically dissociated cells (n = 83) seeded on a feeder layer of human keratocytes. Epithelial outgrowth was assessed by phase contrast microscopy using a computerized image analysis software.

[Heavy silicone oil as internal tamponade for retinal detachment: efficacy and tolerance].

Introduction: To evaluate the tolerance and efficacy of heavy silicone oil as internal tamponade for retinal detachment surgery.

Patients And Methods: Sixty-six eyes requiring heavy silicone oil for retinal detachment, with at least 1 month follow-up, were retrospectively studied. Preoperative status, surgical technique, tolerance, and anatomical and functional results were analyzed from the patient's file.

Multi-detector row CT scanning in Paleoanthropology at various tube current settings and scanning mode.

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal tube current setting and scanning mode for hominid fossil skull scanning, using multi-detector row computed tomography (CT). Four fossil skulls (La Ferrassie 1, Abri Pataud 1, CroMagnon 2 and Cro-Magnon 3) were examined by using the CT scanner LightSpeed 16 (General Electric Medical Systems) with varying dose per section (160, 250, and 300 mAs) and scanning mode (helical and conventional). Image quality of two-dimensional (2D) multiplanar reconstructions, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions and native images was assessed by four reviewers using a four-point grading scale.

MR tractography with diffusion tensor imaging in clinical routine.

Using MRI, we demonstrated that the depiction of the cerebral white matter fiber tracts has become a routine procedure. Diffusion tensor (DT) sequences may be analyzed with combined volume analysis and tractography extraction software, giving indirect visualization of white matter connections. We obtained DT data from 20 subjects with normal MR imaging and five patients presenting cerebral diseases such as brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and stroke, with five patients explored on two different MR scanners.

Outcome of graft central thickness after penetrating keratoplasty.

Objective: To analyze the outcome of graft central thickness after penetrating keratoplasty.

Design: Retrospective observational cohort study.

Participants: Eight hundred fifty-six consecutive penetrating keratoplasties (772 patients) performed between 1992 and 2001 were analyzed and 772 were included (1 graft per patient was included).

Tissue crossmatch before corneal transplantation.

Aim: To investigate the influence of anticorneal antibodies on the outcome of transplantation in recipients before penetrating keratoplasty.

Methods: 100 consecutive penetrating keratoplasties performed between July 1995 and June 1996 were included in this study. Donor corneoscleral rim cryosections were incubated with recipient serum.

[Tractography of the visual pathways: routine examination in magnetic resonance imaging].

Water diffusion analysis in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an elective visualization of fiber tract orientations in cerebral white matter, especially for optic tracts. We explored 25 patients from 18 to 45 years of age, with normal MRI in 20 subjects, and radiological anomalies in five. On a 1.

[Immunosuppression in corneal transplantation].

Rejection is the leading cause of corneal graft failure, induced by loss of the so-called eye immune privilege. Prevention of graft rejection with immunosuppressive therapy is then necessary. Topical corticosteroids are currently the gold standard, and steroids are the only treatment for acute rejection episodes.

[Amniotic membrane transplantation in severe corneal epithelial diseases. Preliminary results].

Purpose: To evaluate amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) in severe corneal epithelial diseases.

Methods: Amniotic membrane transplantation was performed in 14 eyes of 14 patients from four groups: A, five severe ocular burns; B, four cases of cicatricial keratoconjunctivitis; C, three persistent epithelial defects after penetrating keratoplasty; D, two cases of pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. Five patients underwent AMT alone; two patients underwent AMT combined with limbal transplantation; the other three patients had limbal transplantation performed before AMT.

Normal-appearing white matter in optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis: a comparative proton spectroscopy study.

We investigated neurochemical abnormalities in the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) on MRI of patients with optic neuritis (ON) and compared them to those of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Patients with ON (42) were classified into three groups according to abnormalities on brain MRI. Patients with MS (55) were divided in two groups: relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS).

Localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients with adult adrenoleukodystrophy. Increase of choline compounds in normal appearing white matter.

Objectives: To describe the changes in the results of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy occurring in the normal-appearing white matter of patients with adult adrenoleukodystrophy and to present evidence of a particular change that may serve as a marker for the follow-up of the disease.

Design: Neurologic, magnetic resonance imaging, and localized proton spectroscopic examinations were performed in 11 patients with adult adrenoleukodystrophy and compared with 11 sex- and age-matched controls.

Patients: Eleven patients with adult adrenoleukodystrophy participated in a trial of dietary therapy with glyceryl trioleate and glyceryl trierucate (Lorenzo's oil) in the Fédération de Neurologie and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 134, at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris, France.

Minimal surface: a useful paradigm to describe the deeper part of the corpus callosum?

The aim of this magnetic resonance imaging study was to find a geometrical characterization of the deeper part of the corpus callosum. Its shape was studied in 12 middle-aged persons free of white matter pathology. Profiles of curvatures were measured showing that this surface was close to a minimal one, especially at the genu and near the splenium.

Magnetic resonance imaging using FLAIR pulse sequence in white matter diseases.

Fifty six patients among whom 39 had white matter diseases had MRI of the brain comparing FLAIR sequence to a conventional proton density sequence. Flair sequence allowed to detect 18 additional hypersignal (HS) that were not present on T2 sequence. These HS were located in the periventricular areas for 5 of them, near the cortical sulci in 10, and in the centrum semi-ovale for 3.

In vivo localized NMR proton spectroscopy of normal appearing white matter in patients with multiple sclerosis.

We used a rapid long TE proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic (MRS) sequence in the normal appearing white matter of 11 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) localizing the volume of interest in the centrum semi-ovale. The metabolic changes were compared to the same area in 11 normal brains. We found a significant decrease in NAA/Cr ratios and a borderline significance of increase in Cho/Cr ratios in patients with MS.

Is the length of the calcarine sulcus associated with the size of the human visual cortex? A morphometric study with magnetic resonance tomography.

Purpose: To determine whether the length and depth of the calcarine sulcus are associated and can be used for estimating the size of the primary visual area (area 17) and other regions in MR images of the human occipital lobe.

Methods: The length and depth of the calcarine sulcus and the projection areas of the mesial surface of the occipital lobe and of the total hemisphere were measured in MR images of 23 healthy subjects.

Results: A higher variability of the size of the projection area of the mesial surface of the occipital lobe compared with that of the remaining part of the hemisphere is found.

[The dynamic study of the human body using MRI].

This work deals with dynamic anatomy of human body explored by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recent development of MRI pulse sequences allow very fast data acquisition. Using an 1,5 Tesla system (General Electric--CGR, Signa), different body segments have been explored, in two different ways.