Thyroid Eye Disease.

Thyroid eye disease, although rare, is the most common inflammatory orbital disorder and is associated with autoimmune thyroid dysfunction. It is a progressive disorder with symptoms and signs that may cause significant facial disfigurement, visual disability, but rarely blindness. We will review the diagnostic criteria, immunologic basis, clinical course, and medical and surgical treatments for thyroid eye disease. Recent developments in the use of biologic agents to treat this disorder appear to be changing its progression curve and offer the first specific and preventative therapeutic options.

Involvement of a gut-retina axis in protection against dietary glycemia-induced age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the major cause of blindness in developed nations. AMD is characterized by retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cell dysfunction and loss of photoreceptor cells. Epidemiologic studies indicate important contributions of dietary patterns to the risk for AMD, but the mechanisms relating diet to disease remain unclear. Here we investigate the effect on AMD of isocaloric diets that differ only in the type of dietary carbohydrate in a wild-type aged-mouse model. The consumption of a high-glycemia (HG) diet resulted in many AMD features (AMDf), including RPE hypopigmentation and atrophy, lipofuscin accumulation, and photoreceptor degeneration, whereas consumption of the lower-glycemia (LG) diet did not. Critically, switching from the HG to the LG diet late in life arrested or reversed AMDf. LG diets limited the accumulation of advanced glycation end products, long-chain polyunsaturated lipids, and their peroxidation end-products and increased C3-carnitine in retina, plasma, or urine. Untargeted metabolomics revealed microbial cometabolites, particularly serotonin, as protective against AMDf. Gut microbiota were responsive to diet, and we identified microbiota in the Clostridiales order as being associated with AMDf and the HG diet, whereas protection from AMDf was associated with the Bacteroidales order and the LG diet. Network analysis revealed a nexus of metabolites and microbiota that appear to act within a gut-retina axis to protect against diet- and age-induced AMDf. The findings indicate a functional interaction between dietary carbohydrates, the metabolome, including microbial cometabolites, and AMDf. Our studies suggest a simple dietary intervention that may be useful in patients to arrest AMD.

Cystoid Macular Edema Arising 10 Years After Cessation of Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium Successfully Treated With Bevacizumab.

Purpose: To describe a patient initially diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who was ultimately determined to have progressing pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS)-associated maculopathy leading to secondary cystoid macular edema (CME) 10 years after cessation of PPS. Methods: An interventional case report is presented. Results: A 57-year-old woman diagnosed with AMD presented with unilateral worsening vision and metamorphopsia from CME. A detailed history showed a 3-year course of PPS, which had been discontinued 10 years previously. This led to the diagnosis of PPS-associated maculopathy. After topical NSAID and corticosteroid treatment failed, intravitreal bevacizumab resolved the symptoms. CME developed in the fellow eye 5 months later and also responded to bevacizumab. Conclusions: This case emphasizes the importance of a thorough review of past medication and medical histories in patients with pigmentary retinopathy and supports the use of antivascular endothelial growth factor therapy as an option to treat CME secondary to PPS-associated maculopathy.

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Detecting Choroidal Neovascularization Secondary to Choroidal Osteoma.

Choroidal osteoma is an ossifying tumor that is found predominantly in the peripapillary and macular areas. It typically affects otherwise healthy females. Vision loss may occur secondary to the development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Fluorescein angiography (FA) remains the gold standard for diagnosing CNV; however, the use of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) as an adjunct to FA is growing. In this report, a 16-year-old female with a large, unilateral peripapillary choroidal osteoma presented with blurred vision. Exam revealed scattered intraretinal hemorrhage, but FA was unable to detect CNV overlying the tumor. OCTA detected abnormal flow in the outer retina corresponding to a type 2 CNV. Following intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, the CNV regressed, the hemorrhage resolved, and there was less fluid. OCTA may be helpful in detecting CNV noninvasively in eyes in which FA is equivocal, such as those with choroidal osteoma.