Owing to its rapid development, short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19 vaccine are still not well understood. This case report highlights bilateral corneal endothelial graft rejection after administration of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. A 73-year-old woman with bilateral Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty presented with bilateral decreased visual acuity, ocular pain, and photophobia after her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Two weeks after vaccine administration, the uncorrected visual acuity was 20/70 and 20/40. Central corneal thickness as measured by ultrasound was 809 and 825 mm and by Scheimfplug imaging was 788 and 751 mm at the pupil center. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy revealed quiet conjunctiva and sclera but was significant for thickened corneas with Descemet folds in both eyes. The patient was instructed to use prednisolone acetate 1% every 1 to 2 hours with Muro ointment at bedtime.
Purpose-To report the outcomes of medical and surgical management for congenital aniridiaassociated keratopathy (AAK) over a long follow-up period.
Design-Retrospective, comparative case seriesMethods-Medical records of patients diagnosed with congenital aniridia were retrospectively reviewed. Age, gender, ethnicity, follow-up time, AAK stage, non-corneal abnormalities, ocular surgeries, and complications were recorded. The visual acuity equivalent (VAE), approximate Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (appETDRS) letter score, was calculated using recorded Snellen visual acuities.Results-Ninety-two eyes of 47 patients (31 females) with mean age of 48.0±18.0 years, and mean follow-up of 78.6±42.2 months were included. At the initial visit, 12 eyes (13%) were classified as stage I AAK, 33 eyes (35.9%) stage II, 25 eyes (27.2%) stage III, 17 eyes (18.5%) stage IV and 5 eyes (5.4%) stage V. Limbal stem cell transplantation (LSCT) and Boston Keratoprosthesis (KPro) were frequently performed on eyes with stages III-V. These advanced corneal surgeries significantly improved the median (95% CI) of calculated appETDRS scores from 2(0-20) to 26(15-41) (Snellen, 20/20000 to 20/300, P=0.0004). Patients with earlier stages (I-II) of AAK were managed medically and had stable visual acuity through their final visits *
The development of severe ocular surface mucosal inflammation and denudation with cicatrizing sequelae in a patient carrying a diagnosis of DRESS/DIHS has diagnostic and therapeutic implications for the ophthalmologist. Careful ophthalmic assessment is indicated in any SCAR patient with ophthalmic symptoms, regardless of formal diagnosis. Furthermore, the early therapeutic interventions recently recommended in SJS/TEN to limit the ophthalmic cicatricial sequelae, such as systemic or topical corticosteroids, may be indicated.
In recent years, technological advances in sequencing have accelerated our understanding of epigenetics in ocular development and ophthalmic diseases. We now know that epigenetic modifications are necessary for normal ocular development and biological processes such as corneal wound healing and ocular surface repair, while aberrant epigenetic regulation underlies the pathogenesis of a wide range of ocular diseases, including cataracts and various diseases of the ocular surface. As the epigenetics of the eye is a constantly changing field of medicine, this comprehensive review focuses on innovations and scientific discoveries related to epigenetic control of anterior segment diseases that were published in the English literature in the past five years. These recent studies attempt to elucidate therapeutic targets for the anterior segment pathological processes. Already, recent studies have shown therapeutic potential in targeting epigenetic mechanisms of ocular disease, and new epigenetic therapies are on the verge of being introduced to clinical practice. New drug targets can potentially emerge as we make further discoveries within this field.
BackgroundTo demonstrate a technique for using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to simulate leakage in eyes with diabetic macular oedema and determine the sensitivity and positive predictive value of detecting leaking microvasculature on OCTA using fluorescein angiography (FA) as the comparative norm.Methods6×6 mm OCT angiograms were overlaid with the corresponding OCT thickness maps. Microvascular abnormalities on the OCT angiogram underlying areas of thickening on the OCT thickness map were assumed to be leaking. Two independent readers blindly read the OCTA overlay images then the FA images cropped to the same approximate region to delineate areas of leaking microvasculature. The results were compared to determine the sensitivity and positive predictive value of OCTA for detection of leaking vessels.Results28 eyes of 19 diabetic patients were included. Each eye demonstrated an average of seven leaking microvascular abnormalities on the OCTA images and 22 leaking abnormalities on the FA images. Sensitivity of leaking microvasculature detection by OCTA was 26.1% and positive predictive value was 68.4%. The correlation coefficient of the two readers’ detection of leaking microvasculature was 0.605 for OCTA reads compared with 0.916 for FA.ConclusionOCTA as a whole can be used to simulate leakage, but currently, sensitivity of the technique is low. Further understanding of the OCTA technology may yield novel means of detecting retinal pathology.
BackgroundMethylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genetic mutations and intra-procedural inhaled nitrous oxide (N2O) independently increase blood levels of homocysteine, a compound associated with thrombosis. Patients with MTHFR mutations who also receive N2O during ophthalmic artery chemotherapy (OAC) for retinoblastoma may have a heightened thrombotic risk.Case presentationsSingle-center retrospective review of pediatric patients with advanced retinoblastoma who received OAC and developed choroidal infarcts. Four retinoblastoma patients with advanced intraocular disease (2 males, 2 females: 13–58 months) experienced choroidal infarcts within the one-month period after OAC, in which procedural N2O induction was used (duration between 21 and 58 min). All 4 patients had MTHFR (chromosome 1p, position 36.22) genetic abnormalities: one was homozygous for the C677T mutation, one was C677T heterozygous, one was A1298C heterozygous, and one was heterozygous for both C677T and A1298C. In all 4 patients, indirect ophthalmoscopy and fundus photography showed marked disturbance of the retinal pigment epithelium and optical coherence tomography (OCT) confirmed thinning of the choroid. Follow-up time ranged from 15 to 46 months (median 21 months).ConclusionsChoroidal infarction in eyes treated with OAC developed in children who were both deficient in at least one working allele of the MTHFR gene (heterozygous or homozygous) and received N2O induction during OAC.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.