Low screening and follow-up for unhealthy alcohol use among health plan beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVES: Alcohol misuse is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States. This pilot study examined rates of screening and follow-up for unhealthy alcohol use among health plan beneficiaries. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed medical records and claims data from 4 health plans-2 nonintegrated Medicaid plans and 2 integrated plans serving Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial product lines. The nonintegrated plans used medical records, case management, and claims data to identify alcohol screening and follow-up services using a random sample of 108 (plan 1) and 120 (plan 2) adults. The integrated plans (plans 3 and 4) used provider electronic health record data for all adults. METHODS: We adapted the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement Foundation's measure, Unhealthy Alcohol Use Screening & Brief Counseling, and applied it to plan populations for the 2014 and 2015 calendar years. We calculated rates of screening and follow-up for unhealthy alcohol use for each plan. RESULTS: Results from the Medicaid plans showed that between 40% and 46% of members had documentation of alcohol screening, but standardized alcohol screening tools were rarely used and screening results were inconsistently documented. Results from the integrated plans with multiple product lines showed wide variation: 5% to 69% of members were screened; of those, 3% to 31% screened positive. Among members who screened positive, 1% to 46% received follow-up care. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of screening and follow-up for unhealthy alcohol use are low in plan populations. There is room for improvement in documentation and quality of care for alcohol misuse.

Photodynamic therapy for circumscribed choroidal haemangioma: a case report.

Choroidal haemangioma is a benign tumour with visual acuity diminution due to subretinal fluid accumulation. There are many modalities of treatment of this visually disabling syndrome, some of them being argon laser photocoagulation, cryotherapy, external beam irradiation, proton beam radiotherapy, episcleral plaque radiotherapy and transpupillary thermotherapy. Another new modality of treatment with remarkable success rate is photodynamic therapy. In this modality a photosensitiser is injected intravenously followed by irradiation of a specific wave length for a specified time period. The photosensitiser concentrates within the vascular channels and after irradiation these channels are irreversibly obliterated. A 62 years old female patient of choroidal haemangioma, who presented in eye outpatient department was treated with the standard protocol used for photodynamic therapy. On follow-up of this patient it was found that there was improvement in the visual acuity from 6/12 in the left eye (affected eye) to 6/9. Not only was there an improvement in the visual acuity but there was anatomical improvement too as was evident by regressed cystoid macular oedema and circumscribed choroidal haemangioma. After six months of follow-up there was no leakage of dye with digital fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green.

Role of early radial optic neurotomy in central retinal vein occlusion.

PURPOSE: To determine safety, clinical and visual results, and potential complications of early radial optic neurotomy (RON) surgery in eyes with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), with relative afferent pupillary defect and visual acuity MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, interventional case-series included 24 patients of CRVO who underwent RON within 2 months of disease onset. The preoperative examination included slitlamp biomicroscopy, fundus photography and fluorescein angiography. Foveal thickness was measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the last 6 eyes only. In each case, RON was performed after informed consent. Two radial incisions were placed in the nasal quadrant of the optic disc, using a micro-vitreoretinal blade. The postoperative change in vision, clinical picture, fundus photographs, angiograms and foveal thickness by OCT were the main outcome variables studied. The Wilcoxan signed test was used to assess the results. RESULTS: Average symptom duration was 37.8 +/- 15.2 days (range 15-60 days, median: 34.5 days) and follow-up 7.7 +/- 2.1 months (range 1-12 months, median: 8 months). Visual outcome: 2 (8.33%) eyes each had fall and preservation of pre-RON visual acuity respectively. Twenty eyes (83.33%) showed increase in vision (of average 3 lines). Pre and postoperative vision ranged from 0.017-0.1 (average:0.061) and 0.017-0.667 (average: 0.17) respectively (P < 0.05). Clinical and angiographic outcome: decline in macular oedema, decreased or resolved intraretinal haemorrhages, resolution of venous dilatation and disc oedema could be appreciated in all cases. Foveal thickness: average pre and postoperative foveal thickness was 834.17 microm and 556.17 microm respectively (P < 0.05) in the 6 eyes where it was measured before and after RON. One eye developed retinal-detachment. CONCLUSION: Radial optic neurotomy is better than the natural course in eyes with CRVO, with vision < 6/60.