Prognostic models of drug-induced neutralizing antibody formation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis treated with TNF-α blockersockers.

AIM: This study aimed to construct prognostic mathematical models utilizing multifactorial regression analysis to assess the risk of developing drug-induced neutralizing antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha blockers.

Acute retinal necrosis: pathophysiological aspects, diagnosis, and treatment.

Acute retinal necrosis (ARN) is a devastating viral infection commonly associated with varicella zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1, HSV-2). Typically, ARN affects individuals without immune status disorders between the ages of 50-70. In two-thirds of the cases, one-eye involvement is observed and the inflammation can be presented as panuveitis. The most characteristic clinical manifestations are vitreitis, occlusion of the retinal arterioles, and peripheral necrotizing retinitis. Retinitis presents with the appearance of deep, multifocal, yellowish-white foci, typically localized in the peripheral retina. Systemic antivirals are the first treatment of choice for ARN. The goal of the therapy is to stop the viral replication and disease progression in the affected eye, as well as to prevent involvement of the healthy eye. The other eye can be attacked in an interval of 5 days to 30 years. The visual prognosis after illness is poor. Early diagnosis and timely initiation of treatment play an important role in maintaining visual acuity and preventing the other eye from being affected.

Confocal Microscopy of Filtering Blebs after Trabeculectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Filtration surgery is the most effective method of lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with insufficient medical control. It consists in facilitating the drainage of the intraocular fluid (IOF) from the anterior chamber to the subconjunctival space and subsequent lowering of IOP. The formation of filtration blebs (FB) and the processes of scarring occurring in the conjunctiva are of particular importance in glaucoma surgery. In many cases, the appearance of FB does not match the IOP values, and what causes the failure after trabeculectomy often remains unclear. Often, over time, there is a change in the structure of the FB, as fibrous tissue grows, which prevents the IOF drainage. Laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy is a non-invasive study allowing the production of layered images at the microstructural level with high resolution of both the cornea and other structures of the anterior ocular surface. AIM: To evaluate the morphological structure and function of filtering blebs after trabeculectomy using in vivo confocal microscopy taking into account the type of implant and when the surgery was performed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 33 patients, 46 eyes with glaucoma. Twenty-six of the eyes had primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), 18 eyes had pseudoexfoliative glaucoma and 2 eyes had juvenile glaucoma. All patients underwent trabeculectomy with fornix-based flap, and three of the eyes underwent retrabeculectomy. Mitomicyn C (MMC) was administered intraoperatively to all patients. The study of the filtering bleb was performed by in vivo confocal microscopy (CFM) (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II (HRT II) /Rostock Cornea Module/ (Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany), the period from trabeculectomy and examination being from 1 year to 22 years. An Express implant was placed in 14 eyes, Ologen implant in 7 eyes, and 25 eyes had no implant placed. In the analysis of the morphological structure of the filtering blebs, three indicators were evaluated: the type of epithelium, the type of stroma, and blood vessels. RESULTS: Statistical significance was established with regard to the function and morphological structure of the filtering bleb (p=0.009). Blebs with fine collagen mesh and dense collagen mesh demonstrate good function. In the case of blebs with insufficient function, those with a dense collagen network and hyper-reflective tissue predominated and there were no blebs with a fine collagen network, and in non-functioning blebs most common were those with a pronounced collagen network and hyper-reflective tissue. With regard to vascularization, we found that the functioning blebs in the shortest postoperative period were dominated by those with one blood vessel (stage 1) and there was no stage 3, with weak tortuosity, while in non-functioning blebs in the late postoperative period, there was moderate to severe vascularization and tortuosity (p=0.037), (p=0.043), (p=0.047), (p=0.021). The type of implant affects the tortuosity of the blood vessels of the filtering bleb (p=0.026). The blebs with Express implants show a slight tortuosity, followed by the blebs with Ologen implants. The highest percentage of highly kinked blood vessels occurred in blebs without an implant. CONCLUSIONS: In vivo confocal microscopy is an innovative method which allows visualization of the internal structure of the filtering blebs at a cellular level, giving us a new insight into the ongoing healing processes, premising the function of the filtering blebs after glaucoma surgery.

Ocular Hypertension, Glaucoma or Compressive Neuropathy in Patient with Active TED.

INTRODUCTION: Severe cases of thyroid eye disease with high intraocular pressure and visual field defects are a real diagnostic challenge requiring the exclusion of dysthyroid optic neuropathy and differential diagnosis with glaucoma. AIM: To report а case of a patient with active thyroid eye disease (TED), decreased visual acuity and elevated intraocular pressure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We present a 52-year-old woman with TED in both eyes, class 2c3c4a6a (NOSPECS), with 6 points (by CAS) activity, who received corticosteroid therapy to a maximum cumulative dose of 5750 mg, with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and topical antihypertensive treatment with tapticom, brizadopt, and luxfen. The patient received full ophthalmological exam, tonometry, exophthalmometry, computer perimetry, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and computed tomography (CT) scan of orbits. RESULTS: The following results were obtained: BCVA of right eye = 0.6, BCVA of left eye = 0.3; TOD = 26 mm Hg and ТОS = 21 mm Hg; exophthalmometry: 30 mm for the right eye and 31 mm for the left one; diplopia in all directions, edema and hyperemia of the eyelids and conjunctiva, eyelids retraction, sluggish pupil reactions, normal color vision, transparent ocular media, indistinct borders of the optic nerve disc, without glaucomatous excavation, tortuosity and dilation of the venules, retina - without diabetic changes, maculas - with normal reflex; CP datа for a localized inferotemporal visual field defect, CT data for thickening of all extraocular muscles, soft tissue orbital edema, and optic nerves compression. CONCLUSION: Our results confirmed the presence of dysthyroid optic neuropathy based on the decreased visual acuity, ophthalmo-scopic evaluation of the optic nerve head, lack of glaucomatous OCT changes, atypical perimetric changes and the CT data. The optic neuropathy is the most severe complication in patients with TED which develops due to the compression of the optic nerve and/or its blood supply from the enlarged extraocular muscles and soft tissues in the orbital apex and due to the mechanical tension of the optic nerve in cases moderate or severe proptosis is present.

A Case of Subconjunctival Dirofilariasis in Bulgaria.

We report a case of subconjunctival invasion of Dirofilaria repens in a woman from Southern Bulgaria. Dirofilariasis is an extremely rare parasitic disease for Bulgaria. It occurs as an endemic parasitosis in the Mediterranean countries. It is caused by helminths of the genus Dirofilaria, which are parasites in dogs, cats, foxes, wolves - the final hosts of the parasite. It may very rarely occur in humans, the infection triggered by a bite of bloodsucking mosquitoes, which are the intermediate hosts of Dirofilaria. The clinical forms of dirofilariasis in humans are subcutaneous, pulmonary and ocular, the brain, testes and mammary glands being rarely affected. A 51-year-old patient presented with migrating edema in the area of the left temple and upper eyelid, with redness and swelling of the conjunctiva, as well as a subjective sense of movement under the eyelid of the left eye, lasting for about ten days. The subconjunctival localization of a moving 9.5-cm nematode was established, it was surgically removed and histologically studied. This case of ocular subconjunctival dirofilariasis is of clinical interest due to the rarely observed pathology.

The Skin and the Eye - Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus in a Healthy 18-month-old Toddler.

Herpes zoster, caused by reactivation of varicella-zoster virus, is uncommon in infancy. Even more uncommon is herpes zoster ophthalmicus, defined as herpes zoster of the ophthalmic branch of the fifth cranial nerve. Among healthy children, primary varicella-zoster virus infection during gestation as a result of maternal varicella or the first year of life is the major risk factor for development of herpes zoster in a relatively young age. Here we present an unusual case of herpes zoster ophthalmicus with dissemination in an immunocompetent toddler with favorable outcome. The child's mother contracted chickenpox in late pregnancy and her son was very likely infected with varicella-zoster virus in utero. During a two-year follow-up the child vision was normal and there was no evidence of post herpetic neuralgia.

Discrepancies between Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography and Fluorescein Angiography in Detecting Uveitic Macular Edema.

AIM: To compare spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) with fluorescein angiography (FA) in detecting macular edema in patients with uveitis and analyse discrepancies in the findings obtained by the two methods. METHODS: The study included 133 eyes from 117 patients with uveitis that had SD-OCT (RTVue-100/ Optovue) and FA (Topcon TRC 50DX) scans performed to detect or rule out macular edema. RESULTS: Macular edema was found in 57 (42.9%) of the 133 surveyed eyes. In 37 eyes (27.8%) macular edema was confirmed by both imaging methods. In 17 eyes (12.8%) macular edema was detected on SD-OCT but not on FA;in 15 eyes of these the edema was diffuse, and in 2 eyes - serous retinal detachment was verified in the macular area. Focal macular edema was detected on FA in three eyes (2.3%) in which SD-OCT showed normal finding. In 76 eyes (57.1%) no pathological changes in the macula were observed on both SD-OCT and FA. Kappa coefficient was 0.675 at p < 0.001. The agreement rate between the two methods calculated using Kendall's tau-b was 0.693 at p < 0.001. CONCLUSION: Fluorescein angiography and spectral domain optical coherence tomography are highly sensitive methods used in detecting macular edema in patients with uveitis, but they might fail to be efficient in this if used independently. Optical coherence tomography is a more informative method, especially in diagnosing diffuse macular edema.