Articles

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.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals is joining a group of academic and industry researchers to undertake a project known as “Drug Discovery and Development of Novel Eye Therapeutics†(3D-NET).

In its final appraisal determination, the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended funding for Iluvien for the treatment of pseudophakic eyes in chronic diabetic macular edema (DME) patients that are insufficiently responsive to available therapies.

A partial coherence interferometry (PCI) device has been found to be a valid tool for calculating toric intraocular lenses (IOL) in a recently published study.

In a recently published systematic review and meta-analysis the associations of myopia with prevalent nuclear and posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataract have been confirmed.

A novel surgical technique using two lasers has been introduced offering several potential advantages for cataract surgery, according to recently published data in the journal Clinical Ophthalmology.

Recurrent retinal detachments in children can develop months to years after the initial corrective surgery, making careful monitoring of patients imperative to identifying late re-detachments.

Pars plana vitrectomy, endolaser photocoagulation and C3F8 gas tamponade without internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling have been found to be potentially favourable in the treatment of optic disc pit (ODP) maculopathy, according to data published in Eye.

According to recently published data, an 810 nm subthreshold diode micropulse (SDM) laser is effective in the treatment of chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

The ?real-world? clinical efficacy of ranibizumab has been demonstrated in a recently published study in the journal Clinical Ophthalmology.

A new aspheric toric intraocular lens (IOL) has been found to be safe, effective and stable in the correction of pre-existing regular corneal astigmatism during cataract surgery, states a recently published paper.

According to recent data small hyperreflective areas found intraretinally, subretinally and underneath the epiretinal membranes with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) could be small bubbles of emulsified silicone.

Implantation of the Ex-PRESS miniature device has been found to have no lasting effects on anterior segment parameters, according to recently published data in the Journal of Glaucoma.