An optical coherence tomography study of residual subfoveal fluid after successful pars plana vitrectomy in patients with diabetic tractional macular detachment.

PURPOSE: To analyze the prevalence of residual subfoveal fluid (RSF) after pars plana vitrectomy in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy complicated by tractional detachment of the macula and the effect of RSF on the postoperative visual outcome. METHODS: This study was a prospective observational case study of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) records of 23 patients (24 eyes) with macula-off diabetic tractional retinal detachment (TRD) who underwent successful 23-gauge pars plana vitrectomy between July 2012 and December 2015. RESULTS: The prevalence of RSF on OCT examination was 100% at 1 and 2 months, 91.7% at 3 months, 70.8% at 6 months, 25.0% at 9 months and 4.2% at 12 months after surgery (p < 0.001). Internal drainage of subretinal fluid (SRF) during primary surgery was performed in 13 (54.2%) eyes. The significant risk factor that was predictive of long-standing RSF was non-drainage of SRF (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Persistent RSF is a common OCT finding after clinically successful vitrectomy surgery for the treatment of macula-off diabetic tractional retinal detachment. Internal drainage of SRF with active aspiration can be attempted if intraoperative breaks are found or if faster recovery is required. To date, observation seems to be the best option.

Serum uric acid level predicts new-onset atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft operation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between serum uric acid levels and the risk of incident atrial fibrillation in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (cABG) operation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 174 patients undergoing nonemergency coronary artery bypass graft operation were included in the study. Patients with previous atrial arrhythmia or requiring concomitant valve surgery were excluded. We prospectively analyzed 174 patients (mean age: 59.8 years; 109 male and 65 female). The serum uric acid level was determined preoperatively. RESULTS: After a coronary artery bypass graft operation operation, 35 (20%) patients developed atrial fibrillation. Preoperative uric acid levels were significantly higher in patients who developed atrial fibrillation than in those who did not (7.8 ± 1.1 vs 5 ± 0.9). Using a cutpoint of 6.55, the preoperative level correlated with the appearance of atrial fibrillation with a sensitivity of 91.4% and specificity of 84.2%. CONCLUSIONS: Serum uric acid level can increase the sensitivity and specificity in predicting atrial fibrillation in patients after CABG operation.

Validity and reliability of VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire in chronic venous disorders.

AIM: The aim of this study was to translate the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire into Turkish, which is used mainly in Western European countries, and to study its reliability and validity. METHODS: Standard "forward-backward" translation method was used to translate the questionnaire. The internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's α, test-retest reliability was assessed with the intraclass correlation and Spearman-Brown coefficients. Validity was examined by correlation of VEINES-QOL/Sym with SF-36, Venous Clinical Severity (VCSS), and Venous Disability Scores (VDS). RESULTS: Out of 100 patients included (mean age 41.9 ± 12.5 years; 32% male, 68% female), 30 were given the questionnaire twice with 24-hour intervals for test-retest; a final completion rate of 99.2% was achieved. The Cronbach's α was 0.914. The Spearman-Brown coefficients and the intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.994, 0.988 and 0.966, 0.933 for VQOL and VSym scores, respectively. For the total quality of life and for several domains the correlations between VEINES-QOL/Sym and SF-36 were high, and significant. Inverse and significant correlations were observed with VCSS. CONCLUSION: Conclusively, the Turkish version of VEINSES-QOL/Sym questionnaire is reliable and valid; thus, it is highly recommended to use Turkish version of VEINSES-QOL/Sym to evaluate the quality of life and symptoms of patients with venous insufficiency in Turkey.