Epidemiology of thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin in recent-onset symptomatic thyroid eye disease.

Purpose: This study aims to report correlations between thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) and both clinical and radiological parameters in recent-onset symptomatic thyroid eye disease (TED) patients. Methods: A prospective cohort study of TED patients managed at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from January 2014 to May 2022. Serum TSI levels were determined with the functional assay. Outcomes included the Clinical Activity Score (CAS), marginal reflex distance1 (MRD1), extraocular muscle motility restriction (EOMy), exophthalmos, and diplopia. The radiological assessment included cross-sectional areas and signal of extraocular muscles on STIR-sequence MRI. Results: A total of 255 (197 female) treatment-naive patients, with an average onset age of 50 ± 14 years (mean ± s.d.), were included. Elevated pre-treatment TSI level was observed in 223 (88%) patients. There was a weak positive correlation between TSI and CAS (r = 0.28, P = 0.000031), MRD1 (r = 0.17, P = 0.0080), and the size of the levator palpebrae superioris/superior rectus complex (r = 0.25, P = 0.018). No significant correlation existed between TSI and STIR signals. The AUC and optimal cut-off value for clinical active TED were 0.67 (95% CI: 0.60-0.75) and 284% (specificity: 50%, sensitivity: 85%). In total, 64 patients received intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) during the study interval, and they had a higher baseline TSI level than those who did not have IVMP (P = 0.000044). Serial post-IVMP TSI among the 62 patients showed a significant reduction compared to the baseline level (P < 0.001). Both the baseline and post-IVMP TSI levels, and percentages of TSI changes were comparable between patients who responded and did not respond to the first course of IVMP. Conclusion: TSI can be a serum biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment response of TED. Further validation should be warranted.

Prediction model to predict type 1 retinopathy of prematurity using gestational age and birth weight (PW-ROP).

PURPOSE: To develop a prediction model for type 1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) from an Asian population. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 1043 premature infants who had ROP screening in a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong from year 2006 to 2018. The ROP prediction model was developed by multivariate logistic regression analyses on type 1 ROP. The cut-off value and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. A validation group of 353 infants collected from another tertiary hospital in another region of Hong Kong from year 2014 to 2017 was used for external validation. RESULTS: There were 1043 infants in the study group. The median gestational age (GA) was 30 weeks and 1 day and median birth weight (BW) was 1286 g. The prediction model required only GA and BW as parameters (prematurity-birth weight ROP (PW-ROP)). The area under curve value was 0.902. The sensitivity and specificity were 87.4% and 79.3%, respectively. Type 1 ROP developed in 0.9%, 17.4% and 50% of infants with PW-ROP scores<0, between 0 and <300, and ≥300 respectively (p<0.001). On external validation, our prediction model correctly predicted 95.8% of type 1 ROP (sensitivity=95.8%, specificity=74.8%) in the validation group. CONCLUSION: The PW-ROP model is a simple model which could predict type 1 ROP with high sensitivity and specificity. Incorporating this model to ROP examination would help identify infants at risk for ROP treatment.

Surgical outcome of medial rectus resection in recurrent exotropia: a novel surgical formula.

Purpose. To evaluate the surgical outcomes of unilateral or bilateral medial rectus (MR) muscle resection for recurrent exotropia after bilateral lateral rectus (BLR) muscle recession based on a novel surgical formula. Methods. Forty-one consecutive patients with unilateral or bilateral MR muscle resection for recurrent exotropia after BLR muscle recession were included in this retrospective study. All surgeries were performed according to the formula: 1.0 mm MR muscle resection for every 5 prism dioptres (PD) of exotropia, with an addition of 0.5 mm to each MR muscle operated on. Results. The mean recurrent exotropia distant deviation was 28 PD ± 11.2 (range 14 to 55 PD). Overall at postoperative 1 month, 36 (88%) achieved successful outcomes, 4 (10%) had undercorrection, and 1 (2%) had overcorrection. At postoperative 6 months, 29 (71%) achieved successful outcomes, 12 (29%) had undercorrection, and none had overcorrection. Subgroup analysis showed no statistically significant difference in success rates between unilateral and bilateral MR groups. Conclusion. Unilateral or bilateral MR muscle resection using our surgical formula is a safe and effective method for calculating the amount of MR resection in moderate to large angle recurrent exotropia, with a low overcorrection rate.