Faculty Bibliography

The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of cystoid macular edema (CME) following repositioning and McCannel iris-suturing of dislocated intraocular lenses. This study is conducted in an urban private practice. A retrospective chart review was performed on consecutive patients who presented with posteriorly dislocated IOLs and underwent iris-sutured posterior chamber (PC) intraocular lens (IOL) placement using the McCannel suture technique by a single surgeon for IOL repositioning from December 2008 to August 2012. All charts were reviewed for etiology of dislocation, time elapsed from cataract surgery, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), slit-lamp examination, tonometry, and dilated fundus examination. Presence of CME was determined by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (Cirrus HD OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California, USA). Of the 58 cases reviewed, lens dislocation resulted from trauma in 21 %, zonular incompetence in 17 %, recent intraocular surgery in 12 %, and unknown in 50 %. Mean best-corrected logMAR visual acuity improved from 1.07 preoperatively to 0.52 postoperatively (P < 0.001). The mean follow-up time was 7.8 months. Two cases (3.4 %) of CME occurred postoperatively at a mean follow-up time of 4.5 months. Of these two patients, one had concurrent fragmetome lensectomy at the time of initial surgery. Iris-sutured PC IOL placement in this case series resulted in an improvement in BCVA with a low incidence of CME.

The purpose of this paper is to report a series of macular holes that developed after demarcation laser photocoagulation for subclinical retinal detachments. This observational case series consists of three eyes from three patients seen between 2005 and 2012. Delayed idiopathic macular hole formation occurred following demarcation laser photocoagulation for subclinical retinal detachment. Demarcation laser photocoagulation of subclinical retinal detachments may predispose to macular hole formation.

PURPOSE: To report a case of presumed gemcitabine-induced retinopathy and nephropathy. METHODS: Case Report. Retrospective chart review. RESULTS: A 64-year-old woman with a recent diagnosis of metastatic cholangiocarcinoma presented with progressive visual loss and renal failure shortly after the initiation of a chemotherapy regimen which included gemcitabine. Clinical examination and fluorescein angiography showed findings of severe retinal ischemia. CONCLUSION: Although gemcitabine chemotherapy has been reported to cause a Purtscher-like retinopathy, we propose in our patient a gemcitabine-induced vasculopathy that lead to significant retinal and renal ischemia.

PURPOSE: To report a case of late failure of a posterior segment placed Ahmed valve in a uveitic eye with a corneal graft and a minimally invasive, ab interno approach in restoring valve function, pressure control, and preservation of vision. DESIGN: Case report. METHODS: A 25 gauge trans-conjunctival 3-port pars plana vitrectomy was performed to inspect and clean the ostium of the Ahmed valve of any vitreous debris. The Ahmed valve was not disturbed externally and conjunctival dissection was not performed. A 27-gauge blunt cannula was introduced through the vitrector site and used to cannulate the tube and flush it with balanced salt solution. A bleb was immediately re-established and all instruments were removed requiring no sutures. RESULTS: Intraocular pressure returned to target levels and a filtration bleb was re-established. Corneal graft clarity was restored with resolution of preoperative microcystic edema. Postoperative inflammation was minimal and vision was restored. CONCLUSIONS: A nonfunctioning tube shunt residing in the vitreous cavity may be revised ab interno without disturbing the shunt placement or the conjunctiva under which it resides to re-establish filtration.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlation between macular hole (MH) surgery outcomes and preoperative factors believed to affect surgical success rates. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective, consecutive case series was designed to evaluate the correlation between anatomic success and preoperative factors: MH duration prior to surgery, visual acuity (VA), and MH diameter measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) at the base and the narrowest midpoint. RESULTS: A total of 153 eyes were enrolled. There was no significant difference in mean duration prior to surgery for MH success and failure (P = .13). Mean preoperative VA was significantly better for MH success than failure (P = .03). Mean mid-hole diameter (P < .001) and mean base-hole diameter (P < .001) were significantly less for MH success than failure. Failure rate was 0% among eyes with mid-hole diameter less than 500 microns and 14.9% with mid-hole 500 microns or greater (P < .001). Failure rate was 0% among eyes with base-hole diameter less than 500 microns, 1.4% with base-hole 500 to 999 microns, and 19.1% with base-hole of 1,000 microns or greater (P = .001). CONCLUSION: Preoperative VA, mid-hole diameter, and base-hole diameter are correlated with anatomic success in MH surgery. An excellent surgical prognosis exists for MHs with mid-hole diameter less than 500 microns and base-hole less than 1,000 microns.

OBJECTIVE To compare the optical coherence tomography (OCT) features of acute central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) versus neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and to determine if OCT features can distinguish between these two entities. METHODS A retrospective, observational study of 50 eyes with CSC and 50 eyes with neovascular AMD. Stratus OCT line scans (5 mm) were reviewed for presence of subretinal/intraretinal fluid and retinal pigment epithelium detachment. The height of the fluid and detachments were measured using the OCT manual callipers, and the morphology of the highly reflective line was described. RESULTS Intraretinal fluid (IRF), pigment epithelial detachment (PED), irregularities, thickening and attenuation of the highly reflective line were more often associated with AMD. When present, the PED was significantly greater in AMD than CSC. Patients with CSC were more likely to have subretinal fluid (SRF), and when present, the SRF height was significantly greater in CSC. Patients CSC also had more hypertrophic outer retinal changes on OCT compared with AMD. CONCLUSION Neovascular AMD and acute CSC have distinguishing features on OCT that may help clinicians to differentiate accurately between the two conditions primarily using OCT.

Scientific understanding of the role of development in conservation has been hindered by the quality of evaluations of integrated conservation and development projects. We used a quasi-experimental design to quantitatively assess a conservation and development project involving commercial butterfly farming in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Using a survey of conservation attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and behavior, we compared 150 butterfly farmers with a control group of 170 fellow community members. Due to the nonrandom assignment of individuals to the two groups, we used propensity-score matching and weighting in our analyses to control for observed bias. Eighty percent of the farmers believed butterfly farming would be impossible if local forests were cleared, and butterfly farmers reported significantly more participation in forest conservation behaviors and were more likely to believe that conservation behaviors were effective. The two groups did not differ in terms of their general conservation attitudes, attitudes toward conservation officials, or knowledge of conservation-friendly building techniques. The relationship between butterfly farming and conservation behavior was mediated by dependency on butterfly farming income. Assuming unobserved bias played a limited role, our findings suggest that participation in butterfly farming increased participation in conservation behaviors among project participants because farmers perceive a link between earnings from butterfly farming and forest conservation.

Vitreomacular traction (VMT) caused visual symptoms in two healthy young adults but spontaneously resolved within four weeks without any sequelae. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus photographs proved vital in documenting the rare complete resolution of VMT. It is prudent to monitor for spontaneous resolution of VMT in young healthy adults.