Over the past decade, intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agents have been widely used and intensively developed as a treatment option for many ophthalmological indications. Due to its availability and low cost, the most frequently used anti-VEGF agent is bevacizumab. This type of therapy is often indicated in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME). If, in addition to these two conditions, patients have a diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), they also present with optic nerve head (ONH) retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thinning. The aim of this prospective study was to establish whether administering bevacizumab to patients with POAG leads to additional reduction of RNFL thickness. The study included 60 patients divided into two groups. First group comprised the eyes of patients with exudative ARMD and POAG, whereas second group comprised the eyes of patients with DME and POAG, all treated with bevacizumab. Control group comprised the fellow eye of each involved patient, which was not treated with bevacizumab. In a period of one year, all patients underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements of ONH RNFL thickness. The results of all patients were compared between the two study groups and then with control group results. Study results showed a decrease of RNFL in both groups of patients. Comparison of these two groups of patients after one year revealed a statistically more significant decrease in RNFL thickness in the second group (DME + POAG).

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The aim of the study was to evaluate diagnostic tests for keratoconjunctivitis sicca (Schirmer test, tear break-up time (TBUT) test, and corneal staining with fluorescein and lissamine green dye) in patients with blepharospasm. This prospective study included 60 female patients older than 40 with blepharospasm, divided into two groups according to clinical symptoms. For fluorescein test, the surface under the ROC curve was 1.0 with standard error (SE) 0 and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.940-1.0; for Schirmer test, the surface under the ROC curve was 0.817 with SE 0.0555 and 95% CI 0.696-0.905; for lissamine green test, the surface under the ROC curve was 0.813 with SE 0.056 and 95% CI 0.691-0.902; and for TBUT test, the surface under the ROC curve was 0.772 with SE 0.061 and 95% CI 0.645-0.870. According to the results of ROC curve, which determines the sensitivity and specificity of normal values, comparison of diagnostic tests for keratoconjunctivitis sicca used in this study showed that fluorescein test had the best sensitivity and specificity. Schirmer test should be avoided in patients with blepharospasm because its results are influenced by frequent blinking and are not appropriate for study interpretation. Despite the pathologic values of TBUT test (numerically), this test is still acceptable for patients with blepharospasm because its interval takes more time than the interval between two blinks.

Cilj: Prikazati slučaj pacijenta s akutnom posteriornom multifokalnom plakoidnom pigmentnom epiteliopatijom (APMPPE) u sklopu infekcije borelijom Lyme. Prikaz slučaja: Šesnaestogodišnjeg pacijenta uputio je pedijatar zbog naglog pada vidne oštrine na desnom oku. Vidna oštrina kod dolaska bila je 0,01 po Snellenu. Žalio se i na zatiljnu glavobolju unazad nekoliko dana i naveo ubod nepoznatog kukca s okolnim osipom na koži. Na oba oka na fundusu su se utvrdili znakovi korioretinitisa. Učinjena je optička koherentna tomografija (OCT, engl. optical coherence tomography), OCT-angiografija (OCT-A), vidno polje (VP), fluoresceinska angiografija (FA), angiografija indocijanin zelenilom (ICGA, engl. indocyanine green angiography), kompletna laboratorijska, serološka i imunološka obrada, rendgen srca i pluća, magnetska rezonancija (MR) mozga, pregled i konzultacija infektologa i neuropedijatra. Postavljena je dijagnoza APMPPE-a i uvedena peroralna terapija metilprednizolonom 0,5 mg/kg tjelesne težine i doksiciklinom 2 x 100 mg dnevno. Serodijagnostika je pokazala povišene vrijednosti IgM i IgG na Borreliu spp metodom imunoenzimske analize (ELISA, engl. Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay), što je bilo potvrđeno western blot analizom. Terapija je dovela do brzog poboljšanja kliničke slike i vidne oštrine na 0,75. Zaključci: Želimo naglasiti da je u slučaju APMPPE-a potrebno napraviti kompletnu obradu kako bi se isključile konkomitantne infekcije, a potrebno je posumnjati i na okularnu boreliozu, osobito u slučaju ugriza krpelja ili nepoznatog kukca, čak i kad se pacijenti ne sjećaju ugriza. Ovakav pristup omogućava promptno liječenje APMPPE-a i borelioze kako bi se smanjile okularne ili/i sistemske komplikacije.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the most common causes of severe visual loss in middle and old-age population, and often leads to serious deterioration in quality of life. Currently, the first-line treatment for neovascular AMD (nAMD) are intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) medications, including bevacizumab, ranibizumab, and aflibercept and also latest commercially available drug, brolucizumab. During initial examination and imaging and treatment follow-up for patients with nAMD, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is used to predict and assess the therapeutic response and guide the treatment. Several OCT-based biomarkers, including the central subfoveal thickness (CSFT), the presence of intraretinal cysts (IRCs) or subretinal fluid (SRF), and the presence of pigment epithelial detachment (PED), were found to influence baseline visual acuity or visual improvements. Recent analyses of large randomized control trials (RCTs) summarized the usefulness of these OCT-based biomarkers. However, many of these early studies relied on time-domain OCT to evaluate the retinal structures thus providing less precise evaluation of the retinal details. After introduction of spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) which provided high resolution images, recent studies offered new insights in specific morphological changes and their different impact on visual function in nAMD. For example, these advancement in resolution offered new classification of IRCs into degenerative and exudative which impacts treatment strategy and final outcome in the treatment of nAMD. Moreover, the recent data disclose a substantial difference between RCTs and real-world studies regarding the response to anti-VEGF therapy. In conclusions, IRCs and PED are associated with poor visual improvement in nAMD in a realworld setting. Both IRCs and SRF responded better than PED to anti-VEGF therapy. These observations mandate large longitudinal studies focusing on the usefulness of these high resolution SD-OCT biomarkers in real-world situations.