Ophthalmology

Presented this week in Chicago at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 Meeting, a novel new mobile application called Uvemaster may make it easier for clinicians to specifically diagnose uveitis.

Explaining diabetic macular edema to patients can be a challenge in itself. Going further to explain the injection process can take even more care for eye care professionals.

The treatment of diabetic retinopathy, particularly diabetic macular edema has come a long way over the past decade, especially since the approval of aflibrecept to treat these patients.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh compared the AmpliVue device to existing detection methods for ocular herpes simplex virus, affirming its accuracy and efficiency.

Speaking at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 Meeting in Chicago, K. V. Chalam, MD, expressed the advantage of using non-invasive OCT angiography (OCT-A) as opposed to the older fluorescein angiography as essentially a difference between imaging in three dimensions or two.

Italian researchers found that supplementing ranibizumab treatment with the daily administration of an NSAID solution improved AMD symptoms better than ranibizumab alone, and believe over time greater statistical significance will emerge.

Difluprednate, a steroid stronger than prednisolone, was recently tested for treatment of macular edema and vitritis in cases of posterior/intermediate uveitis, and its impact was noticeable.

Does adherence to the Mediterranean diet reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration? Portuguese researchers attempted to determine the AMD-preventative nature of the popular regional diet, which is commonly associated with fish, fruit, grains, and the occasional splash of wine.

Sleep quality and subsequent mood have long, and logically, been correlated. Now, researchers from Japan sought to see how a third consideration, ocular function, fits into that equation.

Simple at-home vision tests can red flag early signs of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). But which one is the best?

Although differences between treatment groups in best-corrected visual acuity were not statistically significant, combination treatment reduced central macular thickness and macular volume statistically significantly more than bevacizumab alone.

The FDA has approved Genentech's prefilled ranibizumab syringe for injecting the eyes of people with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD)

A large observational study of results in routine clinical practice showed that visual acuity outcomes 12 months after Aflibercept or Ranibizumab treatment did not differ, and neither did the number of injections required for each agent.

The only factor that predicted visual outcomes one year after nAMD diagnosis was baseline visual acuity, which maintained its predictive ability five years after diagnosis. Visual acuity increased more frequently in women.

Uveitis can have many causes. In a newly reported case study in the New England Journal of Medicine, a team from Korea reports on a patient with worms in his eye. There's a video.

In an 84-year-old woman with AMD and acute deterioration in vision, the oral antioxidant supplement Resvega led to regression of subretinal fluid and eliminated the need for intravitreal injection of an anti-VEGF agent over the course of 9 months.

An optical coherence tomography study found that, after three monthly treatments,aAflibercept was 7 times more effective than ranibizumab in resolving serous pigment epithelium detachment, though neither treatment improved visual acuity in these patients to a statistically significant degree.

Vitrectomy plus subretinal injection of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) reduced scar area moreso than pneumatic displacement plus intravitreal injection of tPA. Visual acuity improved noticeably after both of these treatments, but not after treatment with pneumatic displacement alone.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) was 72% more likely to develop in end-stage renal disease patients than in control subjects and 74% more likely to develop in peritoneal dialysis patients than in hemodialysis patients.

After 12 months of follow-up, a Japanese team found a trend toward greater BCVA improvement in the Eylea group than in the Lucentis group but no statistically significant differences between groups in BCVA or central foveal thickness.

No difference in the superficial capillary plexuses was found in cases of diabetic macular edema that responded well to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor as opposed to those that didn't, but poor responders had more damage and microaneurysms in the deep capillary plexus.

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A graft consisting of a monolayer sheet of RPE or a complex graft of RPE and Bruch’s membrane were found equally effective in restoring visual function and central fixation stability.

One year after beginning Lucentis treatment for diabetic macular edema, the group who had a decrease in visual acuity also had the greatest decrease in HbA1c level.

The authors say that for uveitis “there is a large unmet medical need" for identifying other therapies. Adalimumab is associated with decreased visual impairment and decreased risk of uveitic flare, but more adverse events, according the results from a recent multinational phase 3 trial.

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“These cases highlight a potential association between erlotinib therapy and bilateral, acute, simultaneous-onset anterior uveitis and suggest some patients may respond to topical corticosteroids, despite continued use of the drug.”

The treatment of various eye conditions can vary widely depending on where a patient lives. While some countries may have the best technology readily available others are lacking in not only equipment but training.

Retrospective study results indicate that golimumab may be a new and effective choice for maintaining remission and preventing recurrence of severe, recurrent anterior uveitis in patients with HLA-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis.

Adalimumab, infliximab, and etanercept, reduced the number of uveitis relapses in a retrospective, long-term study of uveitis patients with HLA-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis who had taken one of these biological agents for at least 1 year.