Acute systemic complications of intravitreal bevacizumab and triamcinolone injections - a comparative study.

INTRODUCTION: Macular edema is a common visual threatening complication in patients with diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion. The injection of intravitreal drugs, such as anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) and corticosteroids, revolutionized the treatment of these diseases.

Left ventricular thrombosis and endogenous endophthalmitis in the setting of COVID-19: A case report.

Aside from typical pneumonia, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has shown several extra-pulmonary manifestations. This study was done on a 66-year-old male patient who concomitantly had endogenous endophthalmitis and left ventricular thrombosis one month after being hospitalized due to COVID-19.

The effects of intravitreal adalimumab injection on pseudophakic macular edema.

OBJECTIVE: Pseudophakic macular edema is a frequent complication following cataract surgery. Inflammation is a major etiologic factor in the development of pseudophakic cystoid macular edema. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha has an important role in ocular inflammation. Adalimumab (Humira) is an inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor-alpha that has been approved in the United States. An open-label, uncontrolled, prospective, interventional study of five consecutive patients (5 eyes) with cystoid macular edema who were treated with off-label intravitreal adalimumab at Khalili Hospital was conducted. Slit-lamp examination and optical coherence tomography were done for all patients. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was detected between best corrected visual acuity and central macular thickness before and after injection in pseudophakic macular edema. One patient developed uveitis approximately 2 weeks after injection. Based on the results, adalimumab does not appear to be an effective treatment for pseudophakic macular edema, and it may cause uveitis. Caution should be exercised when using this drug. Trial registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT2016100430130N1, 2016.12.03, Retrospectively registered.

Supramaximal Recession and Resection Surgery in Large-Angle Strabismus: Outcomes of Large Interventional Case Series Exotropia and Esotropia.

PURPOSE: To assess the postoperative surgical outcomes and the changes in deviation in patients treated by supramaximal recession and resection (R&R) of rectus muscles to correct the large-angle exotropia and esotropia. METHODS: This study was a prospective interventional case series, and patients with esotropia of ≥65 prism diopter (PD) or exotropia of ≥60 PD who had undergone supermaximal R&R in non-fixating eye with lower vision in unilateral strabismus or bilateral medial rectus (BMR) recession up to 8.5 mm for esotropia and bilateral lateral rectus (BLR) recession up to 12.5 mm for exotropia in bilateral strabismus were enrolled. Successful results were achieved if postoperation deviation was <10 PD for esotropia and <15 PD for exotropia during their final examinations. RESULTS: A total of 131 cases (48 patients with esotropia and 83 patients with exotropia) were included. The mean ages of the patients with esotropia and exotropia were 16.83 ± 15.06 and 23.19 ± 11.29 years, respectively. The mean preoperative esodeviations for bilateral and unilateral surgeries were 69.5 ± 6.5 and 80.7 ± 10.3, respectively, and these values for bilateral and unilateral exodeviations surgeries were 67.3 ± 7.6 and 74.2 ± 12.1, respectively. The overall successful outcomes were achieved in 50% of the esotropic patients and 79.5% of the exotropic patients. At final follow-up examination, no patient had diplopia on lateral gazes. CONCLUSION: Based on our surgical results, it is possible to consider monocular recession-resection surgery in non-fixating eye (with poor vision) or BLR and BMR recession in both eyes as a viable option for surgical treatment of large angles deviations.

Comparison of macular choroidal thickness in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome to normal control subjects with enhanced depth SD-OCT imaging.

PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that macular choroidal thickness is lower in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS) as compared to healthy control subjects. METHODS: In this cross-sectional, observational study, 38 non-glaucomatous PXS subjects and 37 healthy volunteers were enrolled in a tertiary care Glaucoma Clinic. The macular region was scanned with the enhanced depth imaging (EDI) protocol of a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) device (Spectralis OCT, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Macular choroidal thickness and volumes were compared in nine sectors of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) layout profile across the central 3.45 mm zone after manual segmentation of the choroidal thickness. Linear mixed modeling was used to adjust for confounding variables. RESULTS: Six PXS eyes and 8 control eyes were excluded due to poor image quality leaving 32 PXS and 29 control eyes for final analyses. The average age and axial length of the PXS and control groups were 67.94 ± 7.30 vs 64.86 ± 7.04 and 22.91 ± 0.77 vs 23.24 ± 0.66 mm, respectively, (P = 0.10 and 0.20). There was no significant difference in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between the two groups (P = 0.24). The choroidal thickness was significantly lower in the central subfield subfoveal area (P = 0.02) and in the inner superior (P = 0.03) and inner nasal quadrants (P = 0.03) in the PXS group compared to the control group, as was the choroidal volume (P = 0.02). No significant difference was found in macular choroidal thickness after adjusting for age, gender, and axial length. While there was a significant negative association between age and central subfield choroidal thickness in the control group (r = -0.48, P = 0.01), this association was not significant in the PXS group (r = -0.08, P = 0.68). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that the choroid does not seem to be significantly altered in PXS eyes. Choroidal thickness changes need to be explored in PXS eyes with glaucoma.

A prospective randomized trial of azithromycin versus trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole in treatment of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis.

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of oral azithromycin in the treatment of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis. METHODS: A randomized interventional comparative study was conducted on 14 patients with ocular toxoplasmosis who were treated with oral azithromycin and 13 patients who were treated with oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for 6-12 weeks. The achievement of treatment criteria in the two groups and lesion size reduction were considered as primary outcome measures. RESULTS: The resolution of inflammatory activity, decrease in the size of retinochoroidal lesions, and final best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) did not differ between the two treatment groups. The lesion size declined significantly in all patients (P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the reduction of the size of retinal lesions between the two treatment groups (P = 0.17). Within each group, there was a significant improvement in BCVA after treatment; BCVA increased by 0.24 logMAR in the azithromycin group (P = 0.001) and by 0.3 logMAR in the trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole group (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Drug efficacy in terms of reducing the size of retinal lesions and visual improvement was similar in a regimen of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or azithromycin treatment. Therefore, if confirmed with further studies, therapy with azithromycin seems to be an acceptable alternative for the treatment of ocular toxoplasmosis.

Bicanalicular versus monocanalicular intubation after failed probing in congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction.

AIM: To investigate the clinical outcomes of different intubation techniques in the cases of failed primary probing. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed on 338 patients with the diagnosis of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction with age 1-4y that had failed primary probing. Intubation was performed under light sedation in operating room and the stent was left 3mo in place. Clinical outcome was investigated 3mo after tube removal. RESULTS: Bicanalicular intubation method had higher complete and relative success rates compared to monocanalicular intubation (P=0.00). In addition, Monoka intubation had better outcomes compared to Masterka technique (P=0.046). No difference was found between genders but the higher the age, the better the outcomes with bicanalicular technique rather than monocanalicular. CONCLUSION: Overall success rate of bicanalicular intubation is superior to monocanalicular technique especially in older ages. Also, based upon our clinical outcomes, Masterka intubation is not recommended in cases of failed probing.

Focal Choroidal Excavation in Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy: Case Report.

Focal choroidal excavation (FCE) was first reported as a choroidal posteriorly excavated zone without any scleral change. Choroidal excavation also divided into conforming and nonconforming type. Numerous reports demonstrated association between FCE and other disease such as choroidal neovascularization and central serous choroidoretinopathy. Here, we report a rare case of FCE in a patient with Best disease. The patient was diagnosed by spectoral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). To the best of our knowledge, our patient is the second report of choroidal excavation in Best vitelliform macular dystrophy.