Analysis of 130 Cases of Sympathetic Ophthalmia - A Retrospective Multicenter Case Series.

Objective: To analyze the demographic profile, treatment, and visual outcome of the patients with sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) in a multicenter collaborative retrospective cohort study.Methods: Medical records of the patients with SO from UK, Singapore, India were reviewed for history of ocular trauma or surgery and subsequent development of uveitis consistent with SO, presenting symptoms, treatment, and visual outcomes.Results: A total of 130 patients were diagnosed with SO during the study period. Eighty-one (62.3%) patients were men. The mean age was 48.4 ± 15.5 years. The most common presenting symptom was blurring of vision (89.2%), followed by pain (29.2%) and floaters (23.8%). Ninety-two (70.7%) required additional immunosuppressive therapy. Thirty-six (27.9%) patients underwent enucleation of the inciting eye.Conclusions: SO is a potentially sight-threatening disease with high rates of visual loss. It warrants prompt evaluation and treatment. With the advances and availability in immunotherapy, the visual prognosis is relatively good.

Comparison of Ethnic-specific Databases in Heidelberg Retina Tomography-3 to Discriminate Between Early Glaucoma and Normal Chinese Eyes.

PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of the 3 race-specific normative databases in Heidelberg Retina Tomography (HRT)-3, in differentiating between early glaucomatous and healthy normal Chinese eyes. METHOD: 52 healthy volunteers and 25 glaucoma patients were recruited for this prospective cross-sectional study. All underwent standardized interviews, ophthalmic examination, perimetry and HRT optic disc imaging. Area under the curve (AUC) receiver operating characteristics, sensitivity and specificity were derived to assess the discriminating abilities of the 3 normative databases, for both Moorfields Regression Analysis (MRA) and Glaucoma Probability Score (GPS). RESULTS: A significantly higher percentage (65%) of patients were classified as "within normal limits" using the MRA-Indian database, as compared to the MRA-Caucasian and MRA-African-American databases. However, for GPS, this was observed using the African-American database. For MRA, the highest sensitivity was obtained with both Caucasian and African-American databases (68%), while the highest specificity was from the Indian database (94%). The AUC for discrimination between glaucomatous and normal eyes by MRA-Caucasian, MRA-African-American and MRA-Indian databases were 0.77 (95% CI, 0.67-0.88), 0.79 (0.69-0.89) and 0.73 (0.63-0.84) respectively. For GPS, the highest sensitivity was obtained using either Caucasian or Indian databases (68%). The highest specificity was seen with the African-American database (98%). The AUC for GPS-Caucasian, GPS-African-American and GPS-Indian databases were 0.76 (95% CI, 0.66-0.87), 0.77 (0.67-0.87) and 0.76 (0.66-0.87) respectively. CONCLUSION: Comparison of the 3 ethnic databases did not reveal significant differences to differentiate early glaucomatous from normal Chinese eyes.

An interference-free implantable glucose microbiosensor based on use of a polymeric analyte regulating membrane.

An implantable glucose microbiosensor that utilizes an electrodeposited redox polymer/glucose oxidase (GOX) sensing membrane and a highly hydrophilic poly (4-vinyl pyridine-co-acrylic acid) (PVP-PAC) overcoating as an analyte-regulating membrane has been developed. A gold microelectrode was electrodeposited with the redox polymer/GOX composite sensing membrane. Two polymers, a hydrophobic poly (4-vinyl pyridine) (PVP) and a hydrophilic PVP-PAC were investigated as possible analyte-regulating membranes. Each was mounted on the sensing layer via chemical cross-linking with poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PEGDGE). High current sensitivities of approximately 220 nA/mM glucose were obtained in the presence of PVP-PAC. In the case of PVP, much lower sensitivities of approximately 30 nA/mM were observed. However, only the biosensor with PVP-PAC showed excellent selectivity to glucose against interferants like oxygen and ascorbic acid (AA). The dynamic range is from 0 to 30 mM. The response time in amperometric measurements was less than 10 sec. Clinical trials showed good correlation between the readings of the subcutaneously implanted biosensor and blood sugar levels.