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Background: While complex public health challenges and the emergence of variants have impeded responses to the COVID pandemic, vaccines continue to represent a crucial tool in mitigating the risk of morbidity and mortality. Safety issues weigh heavily upon both the utility and acceptability of every vaccine. Reports of sight-threatening events are scarce. Case description: We report the case of a hypertensive 45-year-old Filipino who noted unilateral (right eye) blurring of vision within 48 hours of his first dose of CoronaVac (Sinovac, China), an inactivated SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine, with macular retinal arterial occlusion noted on day 21 post-inoculation. Further work-up revealed abnormal glycemic, metabolic, inflammatory, and bleeding parameters. Vision improved from counting fingers to 20/100 at week 6 with no interventions. Conclusion: A potential association between retinal vasoocclusion and inoculation with CoronaVac in our patient is supported by the temporal sequence of events, multiple mechanisms put forward in other cases, and reports of vascular adverse reactions in large country-level trials. It is mitigated by the profound infrequency of such events and the potentially substantial risk for ocular ischemic events imparted by the patient's baseline clinical background. Continued understanding of vaccine adverse reactions, however rare, is important not only for individual patient safety. This is helpful in ensuring the utility of current vaccines and in preserving the acceptability of vaccines through and beyond the current pandemic.
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BACKGROUND: Uveitis is a group of intraocular inflammatory diseases whose primary treatment involves immunosuppression. Although corticosteroids (CSs) remain the mainstay therapy, sirolimus is among the recently studied immunomodulatory drugs for treating noninfectious uveitis (NIU). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to assess and summarize the updated evidence on the outcomes of treatment with sirolimus for NIU. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two reviewers conducted a systematic search on November 5, 2018, of electronic databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, and The Cochrane Library) and clinical trial registers having no restrictions on language or publication date. The primary outcome was uveitis activity as measured by vitreous haze (VH), while the secondary outcomes included central macular thickness (CMT), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), CS-sparing effect, IOP elevation, and other adverse events. A meta-analysis was conducted on selected studies with appropriate clinical and methodological homogeneity. RESULTS: Seven studies were included and reviewed. Four randomized clinical trials were eligible for meta-analysis: SAVE 2013, One-year outcomes of the SAVE study, SAVE 2 2016, SAKURA 2016. The pooled proportions of inflammation control (VH improvement) were 38% (95% CI 16.19%-62.66%) during a 6-month follow-up and 49.97% (95% CI 16.19%-83.03%) during a 6- to 12-month follow-up with the latter showing a significantly higher response rate (p=0.0472). BCVA improvement was 62.2% (95% CI 33.17%-87.11%) during a 6-month follow-up and 56.86% (95% CI 20.91%-89.05%) during a 6- to 12-month follow-up with no significant difference between the two (p=0.3705). Increased IOP remained at 7.11% (95% CI 3.46%-12.68%) for both a 6-month follow-up and up to a 12-month follow-up duration. The CS-sparing effect of sirolimus was also well demonstrated. A reduction in CMT was observed, and only minor drug-related adverse events were reported in all the studies reviewed. CONCLUSION: This review provided evidence that sirolimus is a promising treatment option for controlling inflammatory activity, improving visual acuity, and sparing CS use with minor adverse events for NIU.
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Posterior uveitis is a major cause of ocular morbidity worldwide. Systemic corticosteroids (CS) remain the primary method of treatment for noninfectious posterior uveitis; however, CS are associated with many side effects. Immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) is recommended when inflammatory control is not attained with a tolerable level of systemic CS (<10 mg/day of prednisone). IMT agents are associated with several toxicities and limited benefits in some patients. Locally administered therapies (e.g. intravitreal CS implants) offer the promise of providing therapeutic levels of anti-inflammatory agents while avoiding systemic complications. This chapter will briefly discuss common posterior uveitis entities that are amenable to retinal pharmacotherapy.