Uveitis

For conditions like diabetic retinopathy, the earlier the condition diagnosis can be made, the better the odds are of reducing the damage done.

Telemedicine is an expanding field across many areas of the medical community. Finding the best ways to use it and expand its growth are also becoming focal points as the idea gains popularity in helping treat patients.

As part of their overall health management, patients with diabetes are encouraged to undergo annual eye exams. While not all patients follow this direction, research is being done to better improve their eye health by working with their general practitioners.

In many, if not most cases, there can be a break in the chain between researchers and the doctors they are developing treatments for. When that divide does not exist it can mean more direct access for doctors and patients to the latest treatments even in the development stages.

Personality traits such as being calm and organized are associated with types of uveitis, researchers in India found.

Adulthood for juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients doesn’t eliminate the risk for uveitis-related visual complications, but a recent Dutch study reported that for most the outcomes appear to be “fairly good.” The caveat, however, was that one-third of the patients in study became visually impaired or blind in one eye as young adults.

In some patients, treating uveitis or glaucoma can be difficult enough when patients have both conditions simultaneously it can complicate the treatment process that much more.

Much in the way GPS systems help drivers navigate the roads easier, image guided surgery can help doctors provide better care to their patients in many cases.

Space flight has changed dramatically from the days of the Mercury and Apollo programs. With an eye towards Mars research is being done to see what impact long-term flights will have on a person's body.

Presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 Annual Meeting (AAO 2016), one study looked at how vitamin D is involved in the world of uveitis.

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.

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.

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.

“To our knowledge, only one case of APMPPE following human influenza virus vaccine was reported, and this case reportedly demonstrated a benign clinical course.” The researchers encourage doctors to be aware, though this case was both benign and extremely rare.

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.

“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.

A long-acting fluocinolone acetonide implant improved visual acuity and controlled intraocular inflammation for 2 years in 11 eyes of 11 patients with noninfectious intermediate uveitis, posterior uveitis, or panuveitis.

Because of the potentially devastating neurologic consequences of syphilis, this sexually transmitted disease should be considered in all patients who initially appear with uveitis.

It has been many years since Howard Schatz was a practicing physician and while he said the retina specialty has changed he has also seen the field of photography change as digital passes the age of film.

It was supposed to be just a one year sabbatical for Howard Schatz to take a break from his work as a retina specialist and enjoy what had become a growing hobby of photography. More than two decades later Schatz said he misses some parts of practice but is greatly enjoying what has become a second career.

In a post hoc statistical analysis of data from 61 consecutive patients diagnosed with intermediate uveitis, the central foveal thickness cut-off value for starting systemic corticosteroid treatment was determined to be 215.5 μm. This value was found to have a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 96.4%.

With medical equipment being universal in operating rooms everywhere having the tools personalized for surgeons could be somewhat of an uphill battle depending on how popular the idea becomes.

While surgeons across the globe have become used to performing procedures with the same equipment as their colleagues there could be some benefit to having tools specifically designed for their individual preferences.

In an age where personalization is a key selling point for many items research is being done as to whether this could apply to equipment eye surgeons use in the operating room.

A newer, smaller inserter has been shown to be even more effective for the delivery of Medidur than a previous slightly larger-gauge inserter, and none of 11 eyes implanted in Phase 2 showed signs of uveitis recurrence two years after the injection.

For patients with retinitis pigmentosa the loss of vision can be a difficult consequence of the condition. An implanted device may not give them back the sight they once had but it can provide a chance to see the world around them in a new way.

As technology improves across the medical spectrum new devices, including implants, are providing help for patients who just a few years ago may not have had any treatment options available.