Intelligent-assistant system for scleral spur location.

A system based on the use of two artificial neural networks (ANNs) to determine the location of the scleral spur of the human eye in ocular images generated by an ultrasound biomicroscopy is presented in this paper. The two ANNs establish a relationship between the distance of four manually placed landmarks in an ocular image with the coordinates of the scleral spur. The latter coordinates are generated by the expert knowledge of a subject matter specialist. Trained ANNs that generate good results for scleral spur location are incorporated into a software system. Statistical indicators and results yield an efficiency performance above 95%.

Echographic follow up of malignant melanoma of the choroid after brachytherapy with iodine-125.

A 52-year-old male patient is presented. The patient was referred to our service for a pigmented tumor of the inferonasal quadrant of retina in OD. Fundus examination confirmed a pigmented tumor of 3 DD, elevated and dome shaped. Ultrasonography showed a dome shaped lesion of 6.3 mm at the base and 3.29 mm in height, medium internal reflectivity and positive for vascularity. Clinical diagnosis of choroidal melanoma was made and brachytherapy with iodine-125 was performed. Findings recorded at 3-year ultrasonographic follow up are discussed.

Ciliary body leiomyoma: case report.

A 41-year-old female complained of impaired vision on her left eye in the past year. Her visual acuity was 20/20 on the right eye and 20/50 on the left eye. In her left eye, there was an ill-defined, irregularly pigmented, orange lesion at 7 o'clock meridian behind the iris. Standardized ultrasound A-scan and B-scan revealed a large, rounded ciliary body lesion with inner homogeneous structure, medium internal reflectivity and positive vascularity. Under the ultrasonographic diagnosis of leiomyoma, iridocyclectomy was performed. Histopathologic examination revealed ciliary body leiomyoma.

Choroidal melanoma in a 6-year-old female: ultrasonographic diagnosis.

A 6-year-old girl presented with right divergent strabismus that had been noticed by her parents 3 weeks before. On examination, she had visual acuity of counting fingers at 3 meters on her right eye and retinal non-regmatogenous bullous detachment with subretinal tumor. Echographic examination disclosed retinal detachment in temporal side from optic disk to equator, a medium reflectivity rounded, homogeneous lesion with rapid growing and positive signs of vascularity. Enucleated eye revealed mixed cell uveal melanoma. This case is a rare presentation of uveal melanoma in which echographic appearance was decisive for diagnosis and treatment.

Induced posterior vitreous detachment by intravitreal sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) injection in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE: To induce posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) by injecting an intravitreal gas bubble of SF6 and to compare the evolution of the diabetic retinopathy between eyes with gas induced PVD and non-injected eyes without PVD. METHODS: An intravitreal gas bubble of SF6 was injected via the pars plana in twelve eyes of twelve patients with NPDR and no previous PVD. Subsequent clinical, ultrasonographic and angiographic controls were performed to evaluate the development of PVD and progression of the disease. RESULTS: All gas-injected eyes developed PVD. All eyes with induced PVD (treatment group) remained stable without progression of the retinopathy after 2 years of follow up. In the control group (contralateral eyes without PVD), two eyes (16.6%) progressed to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (p= 0.23); five (41.6%) showed progression to more severe stages of NPDR (p= 0.01) and another 41.6% of such eyes remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal SF6 injection induced PVD in all eyes of our study without undesirable side effects. Further studies are necessary to make conclusions regarding the correlation between the presence of induced PVD and the progression of diabetic retinopathy.