[Ophthalmological Screening in Children and Adults with Intellectual Disability]. / Augenärztliches Screening für Menschen mit geistiger und Mehrfachbehinderung.

INTRODUCTION: Special Olympics Germany is the German association of the largest global movement to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual and multiple disabilities. We offered all participants ophthalmological screening during the event in Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg, in 2017 as part of the health programme "Open Eyes - Better Vision". METHODS: A team of optometrists took medical histories, examined refraction status, visual acuity, colour vision and orthoptic status. Four experienced physicians in training and specialists from the Eye Centre, University of Freiburg, performed slit-lamp examinations, funduscopy and eye pressure measurements. Dilated funduscopy and OCT were also performed, as necessary. RESULTS: In total, we screened 166 persons (48% female = 80; 52% male = 86). The cover test was abnormal in about 45% (distant) and 47% (near) of patients, respectively. Six and 11% of patients, respectively, complained of double vision (9/156; 17/156; distant and near). Reduced colour vision with nine of nine tables (Colour Vision Testing Made Easy by Waggoner) was recorded in 8% of patients (11/143). We saw fundus abnormalities in 13% of patients (16/125). 41% of patients (48/118) needed a prescription of new glasses. 29% of patients (45/157) were hypersensitive to light. 10% of patients (16/160) had never been examined by an ophthalmologist. In 4% of patients (7/166) we recommended urgent consultation of an ophthalmologist (e.g. in case of corneal hydrops or elevated intraocular pressure). We discussed possible treatment (mainly dry eye) in 40% (66/166). DISCUSSION: People with intellectual disabilities do not necessarily and directly complain about new vision problems or general problems with the eyes. In addition, there may be limited access to ophthalmological care compared to people without mental disabilities. Due to the four percent of diagnoses requiring treatment and 53% of participants who do not have current refraction compensation, ophthalmological monitoring of the Special Olympics eye program "Opening Eyes - Better Vision" seems to be an efficient mean for improving healthcare in this vulnerable group.

Anti-VEGF injection frequency correlates with visual acuity outcomes in pro re nata neovascular AMD treatment.

Clinical trials report substantial gains in visual acuity (VA) for eyes treated with intravitreal anti-VEGF for neovascular AMD (nAMD). In clinical reality, VA outcomes are more variable. Here we investigate pro-re nata treatment frequencies and VA in a real-life cohort of 1382 eyes (1048 patients). Patients with nAMD and one year complete follow-up treated with pro-re nata anti-VEGF between 2009 and 2016 were included. Injection frequency and VA was analyzed clustered by year of first treatment. Baseline parameters were compared between years. Median injection frequency in the first year was 5 with an IQR (interquartile range) of 5 for patients treated in 2009 and 8 with an IQR of 3 for patients treated from 2012 onwards. Median VA outcomes at one year were -5 to ±0 letters for patients treated between 2009 and 2013 and ±0 to +2 letters for patients treated from 2013 onwards. This cohort comprises all severities and subtypes of nAMD. 39% of patients had baseline VA outside the range for the MARINA or ANCHOR clinical trials. Higher treatment frequency was associated with improved VA in our real-life nAMD cohort. With adequate injection frequency, almost 90% of eyes had stable or improved VA over one year. Median VA gains, however, were lower compared to clinical trials. This may be due to a wider range of baseline characteristics in real-life cohorts.

OCT Angiography of the Choriocapillaris in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy: A Quantitative Subgroup Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: To quantify optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) signal changes at the level of the choriocapillaris (CC) in patients with different stages of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and to explore any correlation between subretinal fluid (SRF) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) alterations and the OCTA CC signal. METHODS: One hundred one CSC eyes and 42 healthy control eyes were included in this retrospective study. CSC patients were allocated into four groups: acute, non-resolving, chronic atrophic and inactive CSC. CC OCTA images (AngioPlex®, Zeiss) were automatically quantified using an image-processing algorithm. Spatial correlation analysis of OCTA signals was performed by overlapping macular edema heatmaps and fundus autofluorescence images with corresponding OCTA images. RESULTS: Active CSC subgroups demonstrated significantly more increased and decreased flow pixels in the CC compared with controls (p < 0.0001). No significant OCTA changes were seen within the active CSC groups or between the inactive and healthy subgroup. Spatial correlation analysis revealed a decreased OCTA signal in the SRF area and an increased signal outside the SRF area in acute CSC. Areas of RPE atrophy co-localized with areas of increased choriocapillaris OCTA signal, while areas with RPE alterations exhibited a normal signal compared with unaffected RPE. CONCLUSION: The decreased OCTA signal in the area of SRF in acute CSC could be evidence of localized CC hypoperfusion or due to shadowing artifacts. The missing CC OCTA changes in altered RPE adjacent to atrophy argues against CC injury. Studies with higher resolution and optimized image acquisition are warranted to further validate our findings.

Joint Modeling of Immune Reconstitution Post Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation in Pediatric Patients With Acute Leukemia Comparing CD34+-Selected to CD3/CD19-Depleted Grafts in a Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Rapid immune reconstitution (IR) following stem cell transplantation (SCT) is essential for a favorable outcome. The optimization of graft composition should not only enable a sufficient IR but also improve graft vs. leukemia/tumor effects, overcome infectious complications and, finally, improve patient survival. Especially in haploidentical SCT, the optimization of graft composition is controversial. Therefore, we analyzed the influence of graft manipulation on IR in 40 patients with acute leukemia in remission. We examined the cell recovery post haploidentical SCT in patients receiving a CD34+-selected or CD3/CD19-depleted graft, considering the applied conditioning regimen. We used joint model analysis for overall survival (OS) and analyzed the dynamics of age-adjusted leukocytes; lymphocytes; monocytes; CD3+, CD3+CD4+, and CD3+CD8+ T cells; natural killer (NK) cells; and B cells over the course of time after SCT. Lymphocytes, NK cells, and B cells expanded more rapidly after SCT with CD34+-selected grafts (P = 0.036, P = 0.002, and P < 0.001, respectively). Contrarily, CD3+CD4+ helper T cells recovered delayer in the CD34 selected group (P = 0.026). Furthermore, reduced intensity conditioning facilitated faster immune recovery of lymphocytes and T cells and their subsets (P < 0.001). However, the immune recovery for NK cells and B cells was comparable for patients who received reduced-intensity or full preparative regimens. Dynamics of all cell types had a significant influence on OS, which did not differ between patients receiving CD34+-selected and those receiving CD3/CD19-depleted grafts. In conclusion, cell reconstitution dynamics showed complex diversity with regard to the graft manufacturing procedure and conditioning regimen.

Potential selection bias in candidates for stereotactic radiotherapy for neovascular AMD.

PURPOSE: Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT, IRay) was able to reduce the need for intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF (IVI) in patients with neovascular AMD (nAMD) in a phase II randomized clinical trial. Certain morphologic characteristics, such as lesion size < 4 mm2 or lack of fibrosis, were associated with a better response. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate eligibility for SRT in a clinical routine setting and to compare clinical features of eligible and non-eligible patients. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 468 patients treated for nAMD in one study center within a period of 4 months. Clinical features, such as visual acuity or number of IVI since diagnosis and within 6/12 months, as well as the presence for exclusion criteria for SRT were analyzed. Exclusion criteria were sub-divided into lesion-associated (relevant fibrosis, lesion size > 4 mm2, PE tear), ocular comorbidity (e.g., macular comorbidity, vascular disease) and systemic comorbidity (e.g., dementia or tremor). RESULTS: Exclusion criteria were met by 255 patients (54.5%). Exclusion was most dominantly associated with lesion-associated criteria (80.0%) and less often with ocular (20.8%) or systemic (9.4%) comorbidity. A total of 213 patients (45.5%) fulfilled eligibility criteria. Eligible patients had a better VA at time of analysis (0.36 vs. 0.56 logMAR, p < 0.0001) and at baseline (0.38 vs. 0.56 logMAR, p < 0.0001) compared to non-eligible patients. The numbers of previous intravitreal injections since diagnosis in strictly PRN-treated patients served as a surrogate marker for lesion activity and was comparable within the last 6/12 months. Non-eligible patients had a higher number of different anti-VEGF drugs (1.8 vs. 1.6, p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: SRT in addition to anti-VEGF can be an option in every second patient with nAMD. Due to morphological exclusion criteria, patients eligible for SRT had a better VA and a better clinical response compared to non-eligible patients.