A pilot clinical study on the effectiveness of mesoglycan against diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE: A double-blind placebo-controlled study on 68 patients suffering by Diabetic Retinopathy was aimed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of Mesoglycan in this pathology. This drug is particularly interested in treatment of disorders of microcirculation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The two treatments were randomly assigned to each patient, using a 100 mg/day dosage of Mesoglycan, and both treatments were prescribed for 6 months. The efficacy of both treatments was based on clinical and instrumental check. RESULTS: The clinical results that emerged in the group treated with Mesoglycan were excellent, although observations are on a limited number of patients appears a direct action of Mesoglycan on the endothelium retinal blood vessels and circulation. Indeed, in the observed patients, was detected a significant reduction of microhemorrhages, microaneurysms and exudates. The same cannot be said of the placebo group; none of patients of that group showed signs of clinical improvement at the end of the study. CONCLUSION: Data emerging from our study show a direct action of Mesoglycan on endothelium retinal blood vessels and circulation, as we observed in patients we found a significant reduction in the number of microhemorrhages, microaneurysms and exudates. This action can be explained by the characteristics of drug as antithrombotic profibrinolytic and anti-edema, already found in vitro and experimentally. We conclude that our preliminary study showed an encouraging clinical efficacy, together with excellent tolerability, and therefore our objective has been met, which was to verify the existence of the prerequisites for a larger clinical study.

Investigation about causes of blindness and low vision among members of Blind and Visually Impaired Italian Union (UICI).

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of the most important causes of blindness among visually impaired and blind, members of UICI (Blind and Visually Impaired Italian Union). The main aim is to get information about the most important ocular diseases which make people blind or visually impaired in Italy. Further purpose is to make our data useful to provide economical evaluations about public expense due to blindness and low vision. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out on UICI database to get information about members of the most important UICI Provincial Centers. The Centers were selected depending on specific inclusion criteria. The descriptive analysis was performed with SAS System 9.1.3 and Microsoft Excel 2007. RESULTS: Data were available for 15,725 UICI members, whose 39% (n=6,133) were visually impaired and 61% (n=9.592) were blind. Pathologic myopia was responsible for low vision and blindness in 11.78%, AMD in 11%, cataract in 8.92%, glaucoma in 8.31%, diabetic retinopathy in 8.23%, retinitis pigmentosa in 6.96%. DISCUSSION: The analyzed sample allows to get only a rough, although useful, estimate of low vision and blindness in Italy. The causes of visual impairment we found are quite in line with those provided by other international studies. The main difference from previous studies concerns pathologic myopia and retinitis pigmentosa as the most important causes of low vision and blindness among working-age people. Our epidemiological study should be mixed with economical cost-effectiveness evaluations in order to provide further impulses to efficient prevention programs.

Acute Myopia: could it be the presenting symptom of a rheumatic disease? A case report

This is a case-report of a patient who came to our Eye Emergency Room for acute onset of myopia and asthenia. The purpose is to evaluate the causes of acute myopia in a 28 year old woman with a family history of rheumatic diseases and a positive antibody titer (ANA). The UBM-study showed a 360° choroidal effusion and the hematological analysis showed mild anemia, lymphocytosis and ANA antibodies were positive. All that signs could suggest a vasculitis-like onset of an autoimmune disease, involving the eye first. Although the diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) or other autoimmune diseases cannot be confirmed according to the rheumatologic criteria, the vasculitic ocular manifestations with positive antibodies in the young woman need further evaluation because it seems to be enough to refer the patient to a rheumatology follow-up.