The Role of Thermal Camera in the Assessment of Thyroid Eye Disease Activity.

Background: Thyroid eye disease (TED; also known as thyroid - associated orbitopathy, Graves ophthalmopathy) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease which presents in typical signs and symptoms such as deep orbital pain, chemosis with or without caruncular edema, unilateral or bilateral proptosis, eyelid retraction, eyelid edema or erythema, restrictive strabismus and compressive optic neuropathy. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of thermal camera in the assessment of thyroid eye disease (TED) activity compared to the Clinical Activity Score (CAS) scale, exophthalmometry values, and thyroid hormone and antibody levels. Methods: A total of 50 patients participated in this cross-sectional study of whom 29 were in the active phase of TED according to the sum on CAS scale and 21 patients in the inactive phase. The Flir E8® thermal camera was used to measure the temperature of the orbital area and the values were compared with the CAS scale, exophthalmometry values and thyroid hormone and antibody levels. Results: Higher values of temperature (p>0.0001), CAS score (p>0.0001), exophthalmometry (p=0.022), FT4 (p=0.0176) and TRAb (p=0.0091) were found in patients in the active phase of TED. Temperature of orbital area showed statistically significant positive correlation with CAS scale (p=0.0001), exophthalmometry values (p=0.0022) and anti-TPO levels (p=0.019). Conclusion: Thermal camera showed higher values of the temperature of the orbital area in patients in the active phase of the disease and positively correlated with the CAS scale, exophthalmometry findings and anti-TPO levels.

Diplopia, COVID-19 and Vaccination: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study in Croatia.

The aim of this study was to explore diplopia as a symptom of undetected COVID-19 infection or as a possible side effect of COVID-19 vaccination. We examined 380 patients with diplopia admitted to the Department of Ophthalmology of the University Hospital Centre Sestre milosrdnice in Zagreb, Croatia, from July 2020 to June 2022. After excluding patients with confirmed organic underlying diplopia causes or monocular diplopia, we linked the patient information with the national COVID-19 and vaccination registries. Among the 91 patients included in this study, previously undetected COVID-19 infection as the possible cause of diplopia was confirmed in five of them (5.5%). An additional nine patients (9.9%) were vaccinated within one month from the onset of their symptoms, while the remaining 77 had neither and were therefore considered as controls. The breakdown according to the mechanism of diplopia showed no substantial difference between the vaccinated patients and the controls. We detected marginally insignificant excess abducens nerve affection in the COVID-positive group compared with that in the controls (p = 0.051). Post-vaccination diplopia was equally common in patients who received vector-based or RNA-based vaccines (21.4 vs. 16.7%; p = 0.694). COVID-19 testing should be performed for all cases of otherwise unexplained diplopia. The risk of post-vaccination diplopia was similar in both types of vaccines administered, suggesting a lack of evidence linking specific vaccine types to diplopia.

Limbal relaxing incision during cataract surgery.

Limbal relaxing incisions are one of the more commonly performed procedures with phacoemulsification to correct preexisting astigmatism during cataract surgery. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect and stability of limbal relaxing incisions in reducing preexisting astigmatism at the time of phacoemulsification. The study included 10 eyes in 12 patients who underwent limbal relaxing incisions during cataract surgery, with preexisting astigmatism of 1-2 diopter (D). Assessments were made preoperatively, and 1 and 3 months postoperatively. Outcome measures included uncorrected distance visual acuity, best corrected distance visual acuity and keratometric astigmatism measures. The mean preoperative and postoperative refractive astigmatism was 1.50 D (+/- 0.75D) and 0.25 D (+/- 0.25 D), respectively. There were no serious postoperative complications. Limbal relaxing incisions provide a viable option for correcting preexisting astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery with mild complications.

Toric intraocular lens implantation for astigmatism correction in cataract surgery.

The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes after toric intraocular lens implantation for astigmatism correction in patients undergoing cataract surgery. This prospective observational study included eyes undergoing cataract surgery at Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center between February and September 2011. The study enrolled eyes that had visually significant cataract and preexisting regular corneal astigmatism of 1.50 D or greater. Phacoemulsification was performed and all eyes received an AT TORBI 709 M toric foldable intraocular lens. At 3 months, the uncorrected distance visual acuity was 0.8 or better in 9 of 10 eyes. At 3 months postoperatively, the median reduction in refractive cylinder was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The median intraocular lens axis rotation was 3.0 degrees interquartile range (2.0-4.0 degrees). Our results showed AT TORBI 709 IOL to be an effective surgical option to correct preexisting corneal astigmatism and spectacle dependence after cataract surgery.