PERIPHERAL EXUDATIVE HEMORRHAGIC CHORIORETINOPATHY IN ASIAN POPULATIONS.

PURPOSE: Peripheral exudative hemorrhagic chorioretinopathy (PEHCR) is a rare degenerative disease that affects the peripheral retina. Reports of PEHCR in Asian patients are rare. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of PEHCR in Asian patients. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 33 eyes of 29 Asian patients with PEHCR. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 70 years, and 75.9% of them were women. Vitreous hemorrhage occurred in 51.5% of eyes during a mean follow-up of 43.1 months. The occurrence of vitreous hemorrhage was associated with a thicker baseline subfoveal choroid ( P = 0.001) and the male sex ( P = 0.005). Final visual acuity was less than 20/200 in 29.2% of eyes. The predictive factors for a final visual acuity worse than 20/200 included poor initial visual acuity ( P = 0.002), initial lesion involvement of more than 180° of the peripheral retina ( P = 0.03), an extension of subretinal hemorrhage to the macula ( P = 0.040), and absence of complete tumor regression ( P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Asian PEHCR patients seem to be more frequently associated with vitreous hemorrhages, especially in male patients with thicker choroids. Although PEHCR was largely self-limiting, approximately one-third of the eyes ended up with a visual acuity of less than 20/200 with extensive lesion involvement.

Retinal Proteome Analysis Reveals a Region-Specific Change in the Rabbit Myopia Model.

Uncovering region-specific changes in the myopic retina can provide clues to the pathogenesis of myopia progression. After imposing form deprivation myopia in the right eye of 6-week-old rabbits, we investigated the proteome profile of each retinal region (central, mid-periphery, and far-periphery retina), using accurate high-resolution mass spectrometry. Protein expression was analyzed using gene ontology and network analysis compared with that of the control, the left eyes. Among 2065 proteins detected from whole retinal samples, 249 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified: 164 DEPs in the far-periphery, 39 in the mid-periphery, and 83 in the central retina. In network analysis, the far-periphery retina showed the most significant connectivity between DEPs. The regulation of coagulation was the most significant biological process in upregulated DEPs in the far-periphery retina. Proteasome was the most significant Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway in downregulated DEPs in the central retina. Antithrombin-III, fibrinogen gamma chain, and fibrinogen beta chain were identified as hub proteins for myopia progression, which were upregulated in the far-periphery retina. Proteomic analysis in this study suggested that oxidative stress can be the primary pathogenesis of myopia progression and that the far-periphery retina plays a role as the key responder.

Central serous chorioretinopathy after renal transplantation.

PURPOSE: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) after renal transplantation (RT). METHODS: A retrospective medical chart review was performed on 451 among 2,980 patients, who underwent RT and visited vitreoretinal clinic at Yonsei Medical Center from 1979 to 2009. Correlation between daily corticosteroid dosage and remission time and factors relating to final visual acuity of <20/40 were studied. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients (39 eyes) developed CSC at a median of 63 months after RT (range, 2 months to 20 years), and 18 (64%) patients were men. Accordingly, the prevalence of CSC after RT was estimated to be between 1% and 6%. All patients received a combination of corticosteroid and at least one other immunosuppressant agent at presentation. Reducing the daily corticosteroid dosage by 25% to 50% in CSC with classic pattern resulted in twice as faster remission (2 months) compared with the maintained dosage group (P = 0.025). Central serous chorioretinopathy recurrence (P = 0.002), intrinsic renal disease as cause of RT (P = 0.003), severe CSC variant (P = 0.009), and presenting visual acuity <20/40 (P = 0.009) predicted a final visual acuity <20/40. CONCLUSION: Central serous chorioretinopathy develops relatively often after RT and varies in presentation and severity. The cause of CSC after RT appears to be multifactorial and closely related to corticosteroid.