Validation of patient symptom diary in acute posterior vitreous detachment

The purpose of the study is to determine the validity of an original patient symptom diary in recording symptoms of posterior vitreous detachment [PVD]. In this prospective cohort study, all patients presenting to the Hotel Dieu hospital emergency eye clinic between September 2008 and July 2009 diagnosed with acute PVD were offered enrollment in the study. Patients were given the Queen's University posterior vitreous detachment patient diary at the initial visit after detailed eye examination, assessment of risk factors for retinal tears and detachments and a thorough explanation of their presenting complaints to record their symptoms related to PVD. At a random point during their six-week follow up, the patients were verbally asked the same questions being recorded in the diary over the phone. At the six-week follow up visit, the diaries were collected and the verbal results were compared with the written results. There was substantial to near perfect agreement between the verbal questions and written answers. Cohen's kappa scores for flash frequency, flash intensity, floater frequency, and floater type were 0.6229, 0.6389, 0.6495, and 0.8603, respectively. The Queen's University posterior vitreous detachment patient diary is a useful tool for investigating the quantity, quality and change in symptoms of patients presenting with PVD in the first 6 weeks of initial presentation

Tuberculous uveitis

In recent years, ocular involvement due to TB has re-emerged. Tuberculous uveitis is a readily treatable disease and the consequences of delay in either ocular or systemic diagnosis can be very serious for the patient. It is important to have a high index of suspicion of the diagnosis in patient with unexplained chronic uveitis and this will be influenced by the socio-economic circumstances, family history, ethnic origin, and previous medical history of the patient. Treatment with antituberculous therapy combined with systemic corticosteroids resolves inflammation without recurrences after medical therapy

Anesthetic characteristics and airway evaluation of patients with weill-marchesani syndrome

Weill-Marchesani syndrome [WMS] is a genetic connective tissue disorder associated with fibrous tissue hyperplasia. Weill-Marchesani syndrome is characterized by short stature, broad head and other facial abnormalities such as hypoplastic maxilla and distinctive ocular abnormalities. Joint stiffness is one of the features of this syndrome. We report 5 cases with classical features of WMS who were subjected to different ophthalmic procedures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first series on the anesthetic management of this rare syndrome. We observe that patients with WMS can present for cataract, glaucoma as well as retinal surgery. Special consideration should be given to difficult intubation, cardiac abnormalities and patient positioning