Articles

Autologous serum (AS) eye drops on the ocular surface of patients with bilateral severe dry eye improved not only ocular surface dryness, but decreased damage of the epithelium as well, as measured by clinical, laboratory, and subjective criteria, according to results from a study recently published in Current Eye Research

Steroid-induced central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) may only occur in select patients who are vulnerable, rather than having a dose-dependent effect, according to a recent study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science

Patients with pseudophakic eye who have undergone cataract will have greater access to fluocinolone acetonide (Iluvien, Alimera Sciences) for the treatment of chronic diabetic macular oedema (DME) that is considered refractive to available therapies. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a final guidance recommending fluocinolone acetonide, making it available for patients through the National Health Service (NHS).

Two treatments with selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in the same area of the trabecular meshwork (TM) do not significantly affect IOP, compared with two SLT treatments in differing areas, according to a recently published study.

All anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents improve visual acuity compared with laser photocoagulation, but there is insufficient evidence to distinguish the performance of any single anti-VEGF agent over another, according to results from a recently-conducted meta-analysis from researchers at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. The safety of bevacizumab also remains uncertain.

Despite treatment, chloroquine retinopathy may continue to progress long after drug cessation, according to a study published on-line by the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Further, disease progression may be accompanied by cystoid macular oedema, epiretinal membrane formation and peripheral involvement.

Swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) may be superior to enhanced depth imaging (EDI)-OCT in imaging the posterior sclera, but not in imaging the lamina cribrosa, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) caused less keratocyte apoptosis, proliferation and inflammation compared with femtosecond laser LASIK, according to data from a recent animal model study.

The Home Monitoring of the Eye (HOME) study, conducted in AREDS2 clinical centres, has demonstrated that patients at high-risk of developing choroidal neovascularization (CNV) - the neovascular or wet phase of AMD - benefit from using the ForeseeHome monitoring device (Notal Vision).

According to recently published data, anti-VEGF therapy is superior to laser photocoagulation for the treatment of moderate-to-severe visual impairment caused by diabetic macular oedema (DME).

Roche has announced additional encouraging results of a phase II study with lampalizumab to treat patients with geographic atrophy (GA). The MAHALO study data was presented during the Retina subspeciality day at AAO 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Major geographical differences exist worldwide in cases of cataracts and macular degeneration, according to the largest-ever analysis of worldwide vision impairment and blindness, which was recently published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

Progranulin, a protein found in fat-derived stem cells, may reverse and perhaps prevent age-related, light-induced retinal damage, according to results from a study done in a mouse model by researchers from Gifu Pharmaceutical University and Gifu University, Japan.

Researchers presented positive top-line clinical results for AMA0076 (Amakem Therapeutics), a possible new drug candidate for the treatment of glaucoma at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Nicox has launched Sjö, an advanced diagnostic panel for the early detection of Sjögren's syndrome, and has formed a partnership with the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation to raise aware of this disease among eye care professionals.

ML7 has the potential to bring an effective, targeted therapeutic response in patients who suffer from dry eye syndromes. Preclinical trials of the eye-drop formulation of Neuroptis Biotech's ML7 product have yielded positive results, and have recently been published.

Heidelberg edge perimetry (HEP) may have role in the early detection and assessment of functional damage cause by glaucoma, according to the authors of a case report presented online at PubMed via Case Reports in Ophthalmology. Further, HEP testing may potentially have advantages over standard automated perimetry (SAP), currently the gold standard for visual function testing.

Shallower anterior chamber depth (ACD) and a smaller iris curvature (I-Curv) are the two primary anterior segment biometric parameters associated with acute primary angle closure during an attack, according to a recent study published in Ophthalmology.

One in three young Danish patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus progressed to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and two in three had 2-step progression despite their young age, according to study results recently published in the November 2013 issue of Acta Diabetologica. In addition, these researchers from Denmark found that after 30-years? duration of diabetes, the presence of diabetic retinopathy was almost universal.

The most common indications for IOL exchange are IOL dislocation and incorrect IOL power, according to study results in press for the American Journal of Ophthalmology. Patient requests for IOL exchange due to dissatisfaction have also increased, and this is especially true for patients who achieve undesired visual acuity even without photic symptoms.

Waveform changes in optic nerve head (ONH) blood flow as measured by laser speckle flowgraphy may be useful in differentiating healthy eyes from those with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), according to the authors of a recent study.

Phacoemulsification done after trabeculectomy may significantly increase the rates of bleb failure in the following 12 months, but not at 24 months, according to a recently published study.

Oral pazopanib - in a dose of 15 mg/d - is well tolerated and may improve mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal lesion thickness and central retinal thickness in as little as 1 month of treatment in some patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to recent study results.

Non-invasive imaging modalities, such as high-resolution anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and in-vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) imaging, may be more sensitive to identifying and monitoring epithelial downgrowth, compared with routine light biomicroscopy in patients undergoing penetrating keratoplasty, and will perhaps replace more invasive diagnostics in these patients.

Even patients experienced with instilling topical glaucoma medications continue to have difficulties with eye drop administration, even those who do not self-report such difficulties, according to a recent study. Further, the risk of having difficulties with eye drop instillation is increased in patients who self-report difficulty and in those who have been previously observed to have difficulties.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended ocriplasmin (Jetrea) as a clinically effective and cost-effective treatment option for patients suffering from vitreomacular traction, including that associated with macular hole of ? 400 ?m when an epiretinal membrane is absent, or adults with vitreomacular traction and severe symptoms, when an epiretinal membrane and macular hole are both absent.

Combined topical and intracameral anesthesia without sedatives is well tolerated by most phacoemulsification patients, according to results of a large, population-based series of small-incision phacoemulsification surgery. In addition, this anesthetic regimen was also effective in cases where complications or adverse events occurred.

Researchers have developed a methodology for calculating likelihood ratios for glaucoma diagnosis using continuous retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements taken with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and found that average RNFL thickness values < 86 ?m were associated with negative likelihood ratios of such a diagnosis.

Novartis has launched a fully interactive Facebook app, ?Retina App,? which simulates retinal disease by illustrating the user?s journey with a highly realistic view of the possible impact of vision loss on their daily lives.

Largest retrospective review of patients with vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) and vitreomacular traction (VMT) confirms that early treatment initiation may stop disease progression and lead to better visual function outcome.