Endophthalmitis in HIV Infection.

Purpose: The role of HIV infection in exogenous and endogenous endophthalmitis has not been clarified. We aim to assess the potential role of HIV as a risk factor or a poor prognostic feature in this sight-threatening condition. Methods: Literature review. Review of evidence: Evidence for endophthalmitis in HIV patients is based on scarce retrospective case series and case reports. Infrequency of literature on this topic is owed to the diversity of the different types of endophthalmitis as well as the rarity of the coexistence of the two conditions. Conclusions: Endophthalmitis in HIV patients are a rare but potentially devastating condition. Many forms of endophthalmitis tend to occur in severely immunosuppressed HIV patients with low CD4 counts. Therefore, the early introduction of cART with full immune reconstitution is an essential part of the prevention of endophthalmitis in the HIV population.

Orbital cellulitis.

Orbital cellulitis (OC) is an inflammatory process that involves the tissues located posterior to the orbital septum within the bony orbit, but the term generally is used to describe infectious inflammation. It manifests with erythema and edema of the eyelids, vision loss, fever, headache, proptosis, chemosis, and diplopia. OC usually originates from sinus infection, infection of the eyelids or face, and even hematogenous spread from distant locations. OC is an uncommon condition that can affect all age groups but is more frequent in the pediatric population. Morbidity and mortality associated with the condition have declined with advances in diagnostic and therapeutic options; however, OC can still lead to serious sight- and life-threatening complications in the modern antibiotics era. Therefore, prompt diagnosis and treatment remain crucial. Antibiotic coverage, computed tomography imaging, and surgical intervention when needed have benefitted patients and changed the disease prognosis. We review the worldwide characteristics of OC, predisposing factors, current evaluation strategies, and management of the disease.

A Focus on the Epidemiology of Uveitis.

PURPOSE: Uveitis is a common, sight-threatening inflammatory ocular disease and includes multiple heterogeneous clinical entities. The prevalence of various types of uveitis depends upon multiple factors, such as age, sex, race, geographic distribution, environmental influence, genetics, and social habits. Epidemiologic research of uveitis is necessary to understand the etiology and immunopathogenesis of this group of diseases. The present study attempts to concentrate on the most recent information on the epidemiology of uveitis and compare it with previous knowledge. METHODS: An extensive literature search was performed in the Medline database (PubMed) and included surveys completed until 2015. Articles that reported prevalence and incidence were studied. References cited in the articles were also studied. RESULTS: The incidence and prevalence of uveitis differs based on age, anatomic location of the inflammatory process (anterior, intermediate, posterior uveitis, panuveitis), gender, histopathology (granulomatous, non-granulomatous), type of inflammatory process (acute, chronic, recurrent), and etiology (infectious, non-infectious). Prevalence differs by geographic location. Idiopathic anterior uveitis is the most common form of uveitis in the community. Infectious causes are common (30-60%) in the developing countries. Herpes and toxoplasmosis are the leading infectious causes of uveitis. Non-infectious uveitic conditions are generally more common in the developed world. An increase in the prevalence of infectious etiologies, including tuberculosis and syphilis, has been seen in developed countries. Introduction of new treatment options has also changed patterns of disease. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of new uveitis entities, changes in the incidence of already known disease and increased availability of diagnostic testing have all altered the epidemiology of uveitis in recent years. Knowledge of regional patterns of disease is essential. A more detailed classification of uveitis with the establishment of uniform diagnostic criteria and prospective population based studies would certainly benefit epidemiologic research and clinical practice.

Clinical and imaging evaluation of the response to intravenous steroids in patients with Graves' orbitopathy and analysis on who requires additional therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of an individualized steroid regimen in patients with moderate-to-severe Graves' orbitopathy (GO) by monitoring clinical and imaging parameters. METHODS: In total, 47 patients with active, moderate-to-severe GO were enrolled in this study. All the patients received the proposed treatment regimen by European Group on GO of 4.5 g of intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone for 12 weeks. At the end of the IV treatment, patients with persistent active GO (Group 1) who were assessed by clinical examination and orbital imaging with short tau inversion recovery-sequence magnetic resonance imaging (STIR MRI) received additional treatment with oral prednisolone, and those with inactive GO (Group 2) received no further treatment. RESULTS: Of the 42 patients who completed the study, 22 (52.4%) patients formed Group 1 and 20 (47.6%) patients Group 2. At the 12th week, the overall response to IV treatment was 76.2%, and clinical activity score (CAS) improvement was 69%. At the 24th week, the overall response was 92.8%, and CAS improvement was 97.6%, without statistically significant difference in CAS and total eye score between these two groups (P=0.157 and P=0.856, respectively). Ophthalmic manifestations were improved, being absent or minimal in 78.6% of patients at the 24th week follow-up. Recurrence of disease activity occurred in 9.5% of patients up to 24 weeks after the completion of treatment, and major adverse events occurred in 6.4% of patients. CONCLUSION: In patients with moderate-to-severe GO, IV steroid treatment, followed by oral treatment, when needed, is an effective regimen with low rates of adverse events and recurrences. STIR MRI is a significant tool for recognizing patients who need additional steroid treatment.

The relationship between Rarebit perimetry and OCT-derived retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To examine the association between measures of neuroretinal matrix integrity as determined with Rarebit perimetry and optical coherence tomography (OCT)-derived retinal nerve fibre layer thickness. METHODS: One randomly selected eye of 30 White primary open-angle glaucoma patients (age: 60.9 +/- 11.7 years; MD: -3.2 +/- 5.1 dB) and 16 healthy White individuals (age: 33.2 +/- 6.4 years; MD: -0.8 +/- 0.8 dB) were included in the study. Participants underwent Rarebit perimetry testing (central field, software version 4) and an OCT fast retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) scan. Correlation was investigated between hemifield Rarebit scores and the corresponding RNFL values, as well as between global Rarebit scores and the respective RNFL measures. RESULTS: Statistically significant correlations of average hit rate (HR) < 90 and mean hit rate (MHR) were detected with Max-Min and average thickness (Pearson's r ranging from 0.393 to 0.474). Number HR < 90 showed a moderate correlation only with Max-Min (r = -0.396, P = 0.030). Regarding the association between hemifield hit rates and the corresponding OCT thickness parameters, only inferior maximum correlated moderately with HR superior (r = 0.385, P = 0.035). A tendency was detected for the relationship of superior maximum with HR inferior (r = 0.345, P = 0.062). For the control group, no significant correlation was found for any of the global or hemifield indices and the corresponding thickness values. CONCLUSION: Although Rarebit perimetry is based on a physiological principle distinctly different from conventional perimetry, it provides global indicators of neuroretinal matrix integrity that correlate with some OCT-derived RNFL thickness measures.

Psychometric properties of the Greek version of the NEI-VFQ 25.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the reliability and construct validity of a Greek version of the NEI-VFQ-25 in patients with chronic ophthalmic diseases. METHODS: We developed the Greek version of the instrument using forward and backward translation. One hundred-eighty-six patients responded to the questionnaire. To examine reliability, Cronbach's alpha for each subscale was used as an index of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients. Regarding construct validity, both convergent and discriminant validities were calculated by means of multi-trait analysis. Rasch analysis was used to estimate the visual ability required by each item for a particular response, and each patient's visual ability. Correspondingly, instrument validity was evaluated by estimating the distribution of residuals for item and subject measures. RESULTS: Four patient groups were studied, each including participants with a single cause of visual impairment. Group 1 consisted of 84 glaucoma subjects. Group 2 included 30 subjects with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD); group 3 included 25 subjects with dry-eye syndrome, whereas group 4 included 18 cataract patients. Twenty-nine healthy individuals comprised the control group. NEI-VFQ scores (mean +/- SD) for the glaucoma, ARMD, dry-eye, cataract and control groups were: 76.9 +/- 20.2, 70.9 +/- 20.2, 81.6 +/- 16.5, 73.5 +/- 24.0 and 93.7 +/- 8.9 respectively. Item analysis revealed no significant data skewing. Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.678 to 0.926, with most subscales having high internal consistency. Intraclass correlation coefficient ranged from 0.717 to 0.910 for all subscales. All items passed the convergent and discriminant validity tests. Strong correlations were detected between visual acuity and "general vision", "distant activities" and "near activities" subscales. Significant correlations were also detected between visual field deficits and the "peripheral vision" and "general vision" subscales. Rasch analysis revealed potential weaknesses of the instrument that are associated with the assumptions of the model itself. Specifically, low precision of the "agreement" items was detected in the estimation of visual ability. Twenty-three percent of the subjects had fit statistics that fell outside the tolerance box. CONCLUSION: Although traditional validation methods indicated that the Greek version of the NEI-VFQ-25 is a valid and reliable instrument for VS-QoL assessment, Rasch analysis detected significant misfits to the model, especially of the "agreement" items. This means that results of the corresponding subscales should be interpreted with extreme caution.