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PCR not only proved an effective rapid method for the diagnosis of fungal keratitis, but was also more sensitive in our hands than KOH wetmount and Gram's smear. Barring the potential limitations, PCR remains a promising tool for faster diagnoses of fungal keratitis.

BackgroundPrevious studies show that clinical features at presentation, in retinoblastoma patients, like glaucoma and neovascularization of iris are associated with a higher incidence of high risk histopathology findings (HRF) in enucleated eyes. Herein, we analyze association between clinical features at time of enucleation and occurrence of HRF including invasion of anterior chamber, iris, ciliary body, choroid (massive), sclera, extrascleral tissue, optic nerve beyond lamina cribrosa, and optic nerve cut end, in a large series of eyes enucleated for retinoblastoma.ProcedureWe retrospectively studied demographic, clinical, and histopathology findings in all retinoblastoma patients who underwent primary enucleation at our center, over a 5 years duration. Statistical analysis was done to find any association between clinical features at presentation and the presence of HRF.ResultsThree hundred twenty‐six eyes were studied. Median age of presentation was 2 years. Glaucoma was the most common clinical finding at presentation apart from leucocoria. Out of 326 enucleated eyes, 28 (8.6%) had extrascleral and/or optic nerve transection invasion. Among remaining 298 eyes, with completely resected tumor, 115 (38.6%) had massive choroidal invasion, 54 (17%) had retrolaminar optic nerve invasion, and 24 (7%), 29 (9%), and 23(7%) had anterior chamber, iris, and ciliary body invasion, respectively. Age more than 2 years, lag period more than 3 months, hyphema, pseudohypopyon, staphyloma, and orbital cellulitis were associated with occurrence of three or more HRF on univariate analysis.ConclusionsClinical variables including older age, longer lag period, hyphema, pseudohypopyon, staphyloma, and orbital cellulitis were strongly associated with occurrence of HRF in this study. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2012; 58: 356–361. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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N Context.-In eyes enucleated for retinoblastoma, presence of histopathologic high-risk factors is associated with a higher risk of local recurrence and systemic metastasis.Objective.-To evaluate histopathologic features in children with retinoblastoma in our population and establish relationship between age, tumor differentiation, and high-risk features.Design.-Retrospective histopathologic analysis of 609 consecutively enucleated eyes for advanced intraocular retinoblastoma during a 10-year period. A nonparametric test was used to establish relationship between age, differentiation, and high-risk features.Results.-Poorly differentiated retinoblastoma presented in 80.3% and well-differentiated in 19.7% of eyes. Welldifferentiated tumors presented earlier (median 1.2 years) than poorly differentiated tumors (median 2.5 years) (P , .001). One hundred fourteen eyes (18.7%) had 1 and 138 (22.7%) had at least 2 high-risk histopathologic factors. Invasion of anterior chamber was found in 10.0%, iris in 10.7%, ciliary body in 6.7%, sclera in 13.7%, massive choroid in 24.6%, postlaminar optic nerve in 16.1%, resected margin of the optic nerve in 7.4%, and extrascleral tissue in 4.1% of eyes. Extensive necrosis was seen in 31.0% of eyes. Poorly differentiated tumors were significantly associated with presence of more than 1 highrisk histopathologic feature (P , .001) and extensive necrosis (P , .001).Conclusion.-Poorly differentiated tumors present at a later age and are associated with presence of multiple high-risk factors and extensive necrosis. In our population, high-risk histopathologic factors are present in a significant number of eyes. Because we have included only primarily enucleated eyes, this could truly represent the distribution of high-risk histopathologic factors in children with retinoblastoma. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2012;136:190-193; doi: 10.5858/ arpa.2010-0759-OA) R etinoblastoma is the most frequent primary malignant intraocular tumor in children and has an estimated annual incidence of 1 in 16 000 to 1 in 18 000 live births. 1With the present-day multidisciplinary therapeutic approach, ocular salvage is possible in group A through D intraocular tumors (International Retinoblastoma Classification). However, in group E tumors (and group D in unilateral cases), enucleation remains the modality of choice. Some histopathologic findings in enucleated eyes, designated as high-risk factors (HRFs), are associated with a greater risk of orbital recurrence and distant metastasis and need adjuvant therapy.There are few studies that have evaluated HRFs in eyes enucleated for advanced intraocular retinoblastoma from developing countries, and most of them have reported higher incidences compared with studies reported in the Western literature. [2][3][4][5] This has been attributed to delay in presentation and diagnosis, lack of specialized centers, and/or differences in biologic behavior of the tumors. 6-8Herein, we report the results of a retrospective histopathologic analysis conducted on a large series of ...

As far as the authors are aware, this is the largest series on clinicopathologic features of epithelial tumors of the lacrimal gland from South Asia. The incidence of PA was significantly higher in this study than reported in the Caucasian population. Among malignant tumors, ACCs were the most common, although rare tumors were also identified.

This is the first clinical study in which polytetrafluoroethylene in the form of suture has been studied. Polytetrafluoroethylene suture was found to be a safe and effective sling material for frontalis suspension and it can be recommended for clinical use.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are implicated in regenerative and healing processes in corneal injuries. Based upon reports that topical fluoroquinolones (FQs) may cause perforations during corneal healing by modulating MMPs, this study evaluated the comparative effects of commercially available FQs eye drops on the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the cornea after ethanol injury. Uniform corneal epithelial defects were created using 70% ethanol in the right eye of the rats (n = 6). The groups studied were (I) sham, (II) normal saline with benzalkonium chloride (NS-BKC), (III) norfloxacin 0.3%, (IV) ciprofloxacin 0.3%, (V) lomefloxacin 0.3%, (VI) sparfloxacin 0.3%, (VII) gatifloxacin 0.3%, and (VIII) moxifloxacin 0.5%. Each treatment was instilled six times/day up to 48 h and rats were sacrificed using excess of anesthesia. The corneas were excised to study the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 using gelatin zymography and real-time PCR. All the FQs significantly increased the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 as compared to the sham and NS-BKC-treated group. NS-BKC did not show a significant effect on MMPs expression compared to the sham group. Among the studied FQs, ciprofloxacin was observed to exhibit maximal induction of MMP-2 and MMP-9, whereas lomefloxacin exhibited an equivocal effect on both MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression. Findings of the present study demonstrate that topical application of FQs may induce the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in debrided corneal epithelium and, therefore, may delay corneal wound healing. Thus, it can be concluded that selecting a FQ for ophthalmic use having minimal effect on MMPs may impact wound healing in injured or vulnerable cornea.