RATES OF RECURRENT RETINAL DETACHMENT AFTER VAGINAL VERSUS CESAREAN DELIVERIES: A Retrospective Analysis and Review of the Literature.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the risk of a retinal redetachment in women after vaginal delivery versus cesarean delivery. METHODS: Retrospective cohort analysis of patients diagnosed with retinal detachment (RD) who had later delivered in one tertiary medical center. Recurrence rates of RD were obtained from medical charts. RESULTS: A total of 967 women with RDs were evaluated, and 66 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age at the time of RD was 22.64 ± 5.81 SD years and 21.75 ± 5.47 SD years in the vaginal delivery group and the cesarean section group, respectively. None of the patients had a history of eye surgery or traumatic eye injury before the event of RD. In all patients, the detached retina was surgically reattached. Retinal detachment was not recorded in the fellow eye during follow-up. We report four cases of redetachment after birth in four women. In our study, there was a 5% rate (n = 2) of RD after a vaginal delivery as compared with a 7.5% (n = 2) redetachment rate for patients after a cesarean delivery ( P = 0.654). CONCLUSION: The risk of a redetachment of the retina in women is not increased after a vaginal delivery as compared with a cesarean delivery. Therefore, in our opinion, there is no ophthalmic benefit in a cesarean section for a woman with prior RD.

MiRNA-124a: a Potential Biomarker for Neurological Deficits Following Cardiac Surgery in Pediatric Patients.

Brain injury is a major source of patient morbidity after cardiac surgery in children. New early accurate biomarkers are needed for the diagnosis of patients at risk for cerebral postoperative damage. Specific circulating miRNAs have been found as suitable biomarkers for many diseases. We tested whether miRNA-124a reflects neurological injury in pediatric patients following heart surgery. Serum samples were obtained from 34 patients before and six hours after heart surgery. MiRNAs-124a was quantified by RQ-PCR. MiRNA-124a levels six hours after heart surgery correlated with the neurological outcome of the patients. In children with neurological deficits, miRNA-124a levels increased while in those with no neurological deficits the levels decreased. MiRNA-124a was able, at six hours after the operation, to identify patients who are at risk for the appearance of neurological deficits. Circulating miRNA-124a is a potential biomarker for the appearance of neurological deficits in pediatric patients following heart surgery. Graphical Abstract.

Naevus of Ota: clinical characteristics and proposal for a new ocular classification and grading system.

INTRODUCTION: Naevus of Ota is a congenital condition that may involve the skin, eyeball and even intracranial structures usually in the distribution of the ophthalmic and maxillary divisions of the trigeminal cranial nerve. The purpose of this study was to summarise our experience with the ocular clinical presentation, imaging, outcome, treatment of complications and to offer a new classification of patients with naevus of Ota. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the patients' medical records and the following parameters were retrieved and analysed: demographics, clinical presentation complications and treatment of complications. Imaging characteristics of patients with naevus of Ota were compared with images from the same period of time of 57 age-matched and gender-matched patients without naevus of Ota (control group). RESULTS: The series was composed of 40 patients (18 males, 22 females) whose mean age at diagnosis was 35.27 years (range 0.5-77 years). Thirty-three patients (82.5%) were type I naevus of Ota according to the Tanino classification, three patients (7.5%) were type II, one patient (2.5%) was type III and three patient (7.5%) were type IV (bilateral naevus of Ota). We further classified all cases in according to the ocular involvement extent. Three patients developed malignant transformation to choroidal melanoma and four patients developed glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, a new clinical classification based on the involved ocular component and extent of the involvement (in quadrants) of the globe is suggested first. Further studies are needed to assess whether our clinical ocular classification can assist in identifying patients at risk for developing glaucoma and malignant transformation.

Preoperative miRNA-208a as a Predictor of Postoperative Complications in Children with Congenital Heart Disease Undergoing Heart Surgery.

Major perioperative cardiovascular events are important causes of morbidity in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease who undergo reparative surgery. Current preoperative clinical risk assessment strategies have poor accuracy for identifying patients who will sustain adverse events following heart surgery. There is an ongoing need to integrate clinical variables with novel technology and biomarkers to accurately predict outcome following pediatric heart surgery. We tested whether preoperative levels of miRNAs-208a can serve as such a biomarker. Serum samples were obtained from pediatric patients immediately before heart surgery. MiRNA-208a was quantified by RQ-PCR. Correlations between the patient's clinical variables and miRNA levels were tested. Lower levels of preoperative miRNA-208a correlated with and could predict the appearance of postoperative cardiac and inflammatory complications. MiRNA-208a may serve as a biomarker for the prediction of patients who are at risk to develop complications following surgery for the repair of congenital heart defects.

Romidepsin treatment for relapsed or refractory peripheral and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: Real-life data from a national multicenter observational study.

Romidepsin is a class I selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for relapsed/refractory (R/R) cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), treated with at least one prior systemic therapy. Currently, there is paucity of real-life data on the efficacy and safety of romidepsin in R/R T-cell lymphoma. This national, multicenter study presents real-life data on the efficacy and safety of romidepsin in R/R T-cell lymphoma. Patients diagnosed and treated with romidepsin for R/R CTCL or PTCL between 2013 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Outcomes included overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), overall response rate (ORR), complete response (CR), and adverse events. Fifty-three patients with R/R PTCL (n = 42) or CTCL (n = 11) were included. Among CTCL patients, median OS was not reached, ORR was 25%, and none achieved CR. Among PTCL patients, median OS was 7.1 months, EFS was 1.9 months, ORR rate was 33%, and 12.5% achieved CR. In a univariate analysis, predictors for longer EFS include any response to therapy, number of previous lines, and PTCL subclass (with better results for angioimmunobalstic T-cell lymphoma). In a univariate and multivariate analysis for OS, treatment response was the only factor predicting OS (OR 4.48; CI 95%, 1.57-12.79; P = .005). Most grade 3 and 4 adverse events were hematological (35%). Infections were reported in 34% of patients. This real-life experience with romidepsin confirms the results of the pivotal phase II trials. PTCL subtype and the number of previous lines of therapy have an impact on EFS. In addition, patients who had good response to romidepsin benefited most in terms of both EFS and OS. Efforts should be done to identify those patients.

MiRNA-208a as a Sensitive Early Biomarker for the Postoperative Course Following Congenital Heart Defect Surgery.

Current clinical risk assessment strategies have poor accuracy for identifying patients who will suffer adverse perioperative events. There is an ongoing need to integrate clinical variables with novel technology and biomarkers to accurately predict outcome after pediatric heart surgery. We tested the hypothesis that miRNAs-208a, -208b, and -499 can serve as noninvasive biomarkers for the extent of myocardial damage and the postoperative clinical course of pediatric patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs) at an early time point following surgery. Serum samples were obtained from 79 pediatric patients before and 6, 12, and 24 h after surgery. MiRNAs-208a, -208b, and -499 were quantified by RQ-PCR. Correlations between the patient's clinical variables and miRNA levels were tested. Our results show that the levels of the three miRNAs were elevated at 6 h after surgery, remained high at 12 h and declined at 24 h after the operation. The amount of all three miRNAs at 6 h after surgery correlated with surgical and laboratory parameters. Their amount at 12 h after surgery correlated with the length of stay at the hospital. Expression levels of miRNA-208a at 6 h were related to the appearance of cardiac complications, and could predict whether a patient will sustain complications or will be ventilated for more than 48 h after surgery. Circulating miRNA-208a is a predictor for the risk of developing cardiac complications during the postoperative course as early as 6 h after heart surgery for CHD in pediatric patients.