Local ocular surface parameters in patients with systemic celiac disease.

PurposeThis was a collaborative study from the Ophthalmology and Gastroenterology departments of a tertiary care hospital, designed to investigate the local ocular surface parameters in patients with celiac disease (CD).MethodsFifty-six eyes of 28 patients with CD and 58 eyes of 29 healthy adult subjects serving as controls were evaluated. The Schirmer test, tear-film break-up time, and conjunctival impression cytology were performed in addition to a complete ophthalmological examination. Impression cytology specimens of each group were graded and scored in the range 0-3.ResultsThe 28 patients with CD consisted of 24 females (86%) and 4 males (14%). The mean age was 34.4±11.3 years (22-55 years). Tear-film break-up time and Schirmer test results were significantly lower in the study group than in the controls (P<0.05). Also, there was a significant difference between the groups for impression cytology grading scores (P=0.001).ConclusionsThe CD group showed a marked preponderance of females with an F/M ratio of six females per male, as reported in the literature. Tear-film functions and conjunctival surface epithelial morphology were significantly altered in patients with CD.

MPV may reflect subcinical platelet activation in diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE: To search subclinical platelet activation via detecting three important platelet activation parameters; mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), and plateletcrit (PCT) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) in comparison with those in healthy adults as controls. METHODS: This prospective study included 140 patients who were followed-up at the Ankara Ulucanlar Eye Education and Research Hospital, and 40 normal subjects. All patients and control subjects underwent complete ophthalmologic evaluation. Of patients with type 2 diabetes, 43 cases with diabetes mellitus (DM) have no DR (Group 1), 45 cases with DM have nonproliferative DR (NPDR) (Group 2), and 52 cases with DM have proliferative DR (PDR) (Group 3). In addition, 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (Group 4) were included into the study. MPV, PDW, and PCT were measured in the studied groups. RESULTS: The MPV levels were significantly altered in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 patients when compared with those in the controls (P<0.05), whereas PDW and PCT levels were not significantly changed among groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The data provided a significant association between MPV levels and DM. Diabetic patients have increased MPV values compared with healthy subjects, but MPV levels were not altered together with the DR stage. Diabetic and DR patients have no different PDW and PCT values compared with healthy subjects. MPV may be a clue for the reflection of subclinical platelet activation in DM regardless of the DR stage.

Basic parameters of thrombophilia in ocular Behçet disease with posterior segment involvement.

AIM: To assess basic thrombophilic parameters in both active and inactive periods of the ocular Behçet disease (BD) with posterior segment involvement in comparison with those in healthy adults as controls. METHOD: Thirty patients within the active period of the ocular BD with posterior segment involvement, 30 patients within the inactive period of the ocular BD with posterior segment involvement and 30 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were included in the study. Plasma protein C, free protein S, antithrombin III and activated protein C resistance were measured in the studied groups. RESULTS: Activated protein C resistance and antithrombin III levels were significantly altered in both active and inactive ocular BD patients when compared with those in the controls (p<0.05), whereas protein C and free protein S levels were not significantly changed within both groups (p>0.05). There was no difference among the active and inactive groups of BD for all of the studied blood tests (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Activated protein C resistance together with increased antithrombin III plasma levels are associated with the posterior segment involvement in ocular BD based on the assessment of basic thrombophilic tests.

A possible link between the pseudoexfoliation syndrome and coronary artery disease.

PURPOSE: This is a collaborative case-control study from Ophthalmology and Cardiology departments of a tertiary care hospital, designed to explore the relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) and pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX). METHOD: In all, 50 patients with CAD proven by coronary angiography, and 50 controls with normal coronary angiographic findings were compared in terms of PEX, other vascular diseases, and retinal vascular findings. chi2-test and Student's t-test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The number of patients with PEX among CAD (+) patients was substantially larger than controls. In all, 28 of 50 CAD (+) patients and only 12 of 50 CAD (-) patients had PEX. PEX was significantly associated with CAD (P=0.001). When all patients were regrouped according to the presence of PEX, patients with PEX did not differ from patients without PEX in terms of age (P=0.360) and sex (P=0.507), but the prevalence of CAD was higher (P=0.001) and fundoscopic findings of vascular diseases were significantly more prominent (P=0.0001) in PEX (+) patients. DISCUSSION: We demonstrated statistically significant difference in the prevalence of PEX in CAD patients, and also in the prevalence of CAD in PEX (+) individuals. These were striking differences. We should consider the possibility of the presence of PEX in CAD patients; and the predisposition of PEX (+) persons for CAD, which necessitates a fundus examination for findings of systemic vascular diseases.