Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Novel Glaucoma Drainage Device in High-Risk Adult Glaucoma Patients: A One-Year Pilot Study.

Background: We report on the 12-month safety and efficacy outcomes of a new non-valved glaucoma drainage device, the eyePlate-300 (Rheon Medical, Lausanne, Switzerland), in managing refractory glaucoma. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on consecutive patients over 18 who underwent glaucoma drainage device (GDD) surgery with the eyePlate-300 after a single glaucoma consultation between February 2020 and April 2021, with at least 12 months of documented post-op follow-up. Results: A total of 16 eyes from 15 patients were included. Complete success was observed in 47% of patients and overall success in 83%. The mean IOP decreased from 31.5 mm Hg to 10.7 mm Hg (67% reduction from baseline), and the number of IOP-lowering drops was reduced from 3.1 to 0.7 at one year. The mean BCVA remained stable. No additional IOP-lowering surgeries were required, and no severe sight-threatening complications were noted. Conclusions: The initial one-year results suggest that the eyePlate could be a safe and effective device for reducing IOP in an ethnically diverse refractory glaucoma population. Further follow-up is necessary to determine the long-term safety and efficacy.

Biomarkers Associated with Organ-Specific Involvement in Juvenile Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) is characterised by onset before 18 years of age and more severe disease phenotype, increased morbidity and mortality compared to adult-onset SLE. Management strategies in JSLE rely heavily on evidence derived from adult-onset SLE studies; therefore, identifying biomarkers associated with the disease pathogenesis and reflecting particularities of JSLE clinical phenotype holds promise for better patient management and improved outcomes. This narrative review summarises the evidence related to various traditional and novel biomarkers that have shown a promising role in identifying and predicting specific organ involvement in JSLE and appraises the evidence regarding their clinical utility, focusing in particular on renal biomarkers, while also emphasising the research into cardiovascular, haematological, neurological, skin and joint disease-related JSLE biomarkers, as well as genetic biomarkers with potential clinical applications.

A systematic review of primary Sjögren's syndrome in male and paediatric populations.

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic multisystem autoimmune rheumatic disease characterised by female predominance. Although the disease is rare in the male and paediatric populations, it has been suggested that it may have a different disease phenotype, which has not been investigated before using a systematic approach. A systematic literature search of PubMed databases (updated to December 2016) was performed to identify all published data on the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory manifestations of pSS in the male and paediatric populations. The literature search of the male and paediatric pSS studies identified 2025 and 186 citations, respectively, out of which 7 and 5 fulfilled our inclusion criteria and were analysed further. The range of age at disease onset was 9.4-10.7 years for children and 39.4-56.9 years at diagnosis for male patients. We identified a prevalence of extra-glandular manifestations between 52.6-92.3% in the male population and 50.0-84.6% in children, while abnormal sialometry was only reported in the paediatric population, with a prevalence between 71.4 and 81.8%. There was a significant variation of positive serological markers, with anti-Ro antibodies reported between 15.7-75.0% and 36.4-84.6%, and anti-La antibodies between 5.6-51.7% and 27.3-65.4%, in the male and paediatric populations, respectively. The characteristics of pSS in the male and paediatric populations varied according to different studies. When compared to data available from pSS adult populations, children diagnosed with pSS reported less dryness and had a higher prevalence of parotitis, lymphadenopathy and systemic symptoms and male patients were younger at the time of diagnosis. This systematic review contributes to a better understanding of the epidemiology of pSS in rare populations. Large longitudinal cohort studies comparing male with female patients and adult with paediatric patients are needed.