PPV with ILM removal appears to be an effective procedure for reducing diabetic macular edema unresponsive to grid laser photocoagulation. A further study with a large number of patients is required to assess the effectiveness and safety of this procedure.

ABSTRACT. Stargardt disease (STGD) is an inherited genetic eye condition involving bilateral macular dystrophy leading to progressive central vision loss. It is the most common form of autosomal recessive juvenile macular dystrophy. In this study, ELOVL4 and PRPH2 genes were analyzed in 30 STGD probands for genetic variations using nextgeneration sequencing. In the patient group, two genetic variants in exon 6 of ELOVL4, and three in exon 3 of PRPH2 were detected. All sequence modifications in both ELOVL4 and PRPH2 were recorded, including those of a non-pathogenic nature. In the control group, four different genetic variations were detected in ELOVL4, and five in PRPH2. STGD patients of different ethnicities may carry distinct ELOVL4 and PRPH2 sequence variants. We believe that the genetic variations identified in this study may be related to STGD etiopathogenesis.

The TSA of the eye significantly decreases after smoking. Cigarette smoking also causes a significant increase in objective accommodation at 2 D and 3 D of stimulus.

Sequential IV tPA, PD, and IV anti-VEGF treatments for SMH in patients with nAMD is effective. However, further studies are needed to establish the best treatment algorithm for SMH in patients with nAMD.

ABSTRACT. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries. The ARMS2 gene has been found to be associated with AMD. Currently, intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) treatment is one of the widely used treatments for neovascular AMD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the genotype of ARMS2 rs10490924 polymorphism and IVR treatment responsiveness in patients with neovascular AMD. The study included 39 patients with advanced neovascular AMD (patient group) and 250 healthy individuals with exome sequencing data (control group). The patient group was divided into three subgroups: GG (N = 10), TG (N = 14), and TT (N = 15). Before IVR treatment, all patients had intraretinal or subretinal fluid or both. They received three monthly IVR-injection treatments. One month after the third injection, the patients were evaluated as either "responders" or "non-responders" based on the presence or absence of intraretinal or subretinal fluid or both. The patient subgroups TG and TT had an 8.56-and 39-fold higher risk of AMD, respectively, than patient subgroup GG had. The allele frequency was 0.537 and 0.10 in the patient and control groups, respectively. Within the patient subgroup TT, there was a significant difference between the "responders" and "non-responders" (P = 0.025). In conclusion, in neovascular AMD patients undergoing IVR treatment, TT genotype tended to be a better predictor of good short-term treatment response, compared to the GG and TG genotypes. Further studies using confirmed genetic biomarkers for individualized optimal treatments are required.