Quality of life assessment in ocular toxoplasmosis in a Colombian population.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of life in patients with ocular toxoplasmosis. METHODS: The participants were 29 otherwise healthy patients with retinochoroidal lesions consistent with Toxoplasma infection. The controls were 29 gender and age-matched people with normal visual function who came from the same socioeconomic and educational background as the participants. The authors used the version of the National Eye Institute 25-item visual function questionnaire (NEI VFQ25). RESULTS: Patients with ocular toxoplasmosis had statistically significant lower scores than controls for all the subscales, except for color vision. Patients with bilateral lesions were more affected in the mental health, difficulties role, and specific vision subscales. The median of the compound score for the participants was 79 (range 35-99) and for the controls was 95 (range 72-98). CONCLUSIONS: People with ocular toxoplasmosis have worse vision-related quality of life than people without the condition, especially if they have bilateral lesions and more recurrences.

Perceptual visual filling-in of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis scotomas.

UNLABELLED: Perceptual visual filling-in of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis chronic scotomas was studied in 13 patients. Although there is deficit of visual inputs, patients with such chronic lesions perceive the region in the visual field uninterrupted. Targets were programmed to appear just outside the edge of the retinal lesion, and healthy retinal areas in the same eye. The results showed no significant difference in perceptual filling-in latencies (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: (i) neural mechanisms of filling-in at the blind spot are probably involved explaining this perceptual phenomenon; (ii) any neuronal changes occurring at the edge of the lesion only affected filling-in within the scotoma area.

Ocular toxoplasmosis: the role of retinal pigment epithelium migration in infection.

Our aim was to study the migration of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) into the retinal layer during infection of C57BL/6 mice with Toxoplasma gondii. Eyes from infected and non-infected animals were analyzed on the 60th day of infection by light and transmission electron microscopy. Non-infected eyes showed a normal morphology. In contrast, we observed free parasites in the retinal vasculature, the presence of mononuclear inflammatory infiltrate (MNII) and parasites in the vasculature of choroids in infected eyes. No inflammatory infiltrate was observed; RPE cells were identified near the MNII in nuclear and plexiforme layers. RPE cells were also found on the ganglion cell layer and in the outer segments of the photoreceptor. The morphology showed that RPE cells caused a discontinuity in the nuclear and plexiforme layers. Clusters of parasites were found surrounded by RPE cells and MNII in the inner plexiforme layers. Ultrastructural analysis showed that RPE cells migrated through the epithelium into the inner retinal layers. We did not observe Toxoplasma cysts in many eyes in which pathological changes were detected. Only 8.3% of the animals had Toxoplasma cysts in the inner nuclear layer in the absence of inflammatory cells. The migration of RPE cells can be triggered by a disruption of the RPE monolayer or injury to the neural retina, as in the case of toxoplasmosis.

Uveíte esquistossomótica: alteraçöes fundoscópicas; achados histológicos do ovo do S. mansoni, abordagem da etiologia e tratamento / Uveitis caused by schistosomiasis: fundus changes, histopathological finding of S. mansoni's egg and clinical boarding and treatment

Este trabalho vem acrescentar mais uma entidade etiológica ao capítulo das Uveites - a Coroidite Esquistossomótica - fato inédito na literatura mundial. Apresentamos 6 casos clínicos, os quais säo descritos através de estudo laboratorial, anamnéstico, biomicroscópico, fundoscópico e angioretinográfico. O aspecto morfológico em 5 dos casoselhante e bilateral, caracterizado por nódulos branco-amarelados, de tamanhos variados, distribuidos pela coroide, e 1 caso foi unilateral, com nódulos e papilite. Além desses casos, descrevemos 1 caso no qual tivemos a felicidade de constatar, pela histologia de 100 cortes, a presença de S. mansoni na coroide. Também fazemos uma discussäo sobre os diagnósticos diferenciais e as possíveis vías pelas quais o parasita alcança a coroide, e outras formas de uveite