Search

Purpose: To analyze the causes for late presentation in a series of patients with advanced retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a tertiary eye care institute in Eastern India.Methods: We analyzed our medical records and ROP database retrospectively from 2007 to 2015 and prospectively thereafter till 2017 to identify the factors for late presentation in babies with advanced ROP (stages 4 and 5).Results: A total of 71 eligible subjects were analyzed. The mean chronological age was 15.1 months (2 months to 14 years). The three important barriers were: (1) the system and neonatal care policy failure (n = 45; 63.3%), (2) parental negligence and ignorance (n = 19; 26.7%), and (3) ophthalmologist's misdiagnosis or unavailability (n = 7; 10%). Majority of the babies (63.3%) were admitted in the neonatal care unit when they were due for ROP screening with an average duration of stay of 35.5 days.Conclusion: The main barriers to early screening for ROP were related to availability of trained human resources, ignorance of "parents and health care personnel," and distance from the point of care. This calls for training of ophthalmologists, advocacy with neonatologists and parents, and create systems for better coordination and compliance of the care providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To analyse the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of choroidal neovascular membranes (CNVM) in paediatric subjects at three paediatric retina referral centres. Methods Medical charts of patients aged 18 years or less with a diagnosis of CNVM were retrospectively reviewed. The demographic profle, laterality, presenting complaint, corrected vision, underlying pathology, fundus, fundus fuorescein angiogram and optical coherence tomogram (OCT) were analysed. CNVM type, frequency, treatment indications, recurrences and fnal visual acuity were noted. results There were a total of 35 subjects (43 eyes) with a mean age of 11.2 years. The CNVMs were mostly type 2 (90.0%), classic (90.9%), subfoveal (59.09%) and active (84.1%). Best vitelliform macular dystrophy was found to be the most common association (32.5%). Intravitreal injection of an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agent was the initial therapy of choice in all. Eyes with CNVMs responsive to anti-VEGF alone required a mean of 2.11 injections. Patients with recurrent disease (21.21%) had an average of 1.14 episodes per eye. While 50% of recurrent CNVMs stabilised with repeat anti-VEGF treatment, the remaining patients required photodynamic therapy, laser or surgery. Conclusion Paediatric CNVMs in this series differed from those in the adult population with regard to aetiology, OCT and angiographic characteristics, treatment response and rate of recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasitic infections of the eyes are a major cause of ocular diseases across the globe. The causative agents range from simple organisms such as unicellular protozoans to complex metazoan helminths. The disease spectrum varies depending on the geographic location, prevailing hygiene, living and eating habits of the inhabitants, and the type of animals that surround them. They cause enormous ocular morbidity and mortality not because they are untreatable, but largely due to late or misdiagnosis, often from unfamiliarity with the diseases produced. We provide an up-to-date comprehensive overview of the ophthalmic parasitoses. Each section describes the causative agent, mode of transmission, geographic distribution, ocular pathologies, and their management for common parasites with brief mention of the ones that are rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) epidemic is no more confined to metro cities and has spread to interior states including Eastern India. There is hardly any published data available on the subject, including the incidence and profile of babies with ROP, screening experience with binocular indirect ophthalmoscope and wide-field digital retinal imaging, as well as the difficulties faced with each model. In our cohort, 33.2% had ROP and 25.3% of babies with ROP required treatment. Mean (SD) gestational age and birth weight were 30.7 (2.53) weeks (range: 23 to 37 weeks) and 1315.09 (322.30) grams (range: 650-2500 grams), respectively. The hurdles in establishing a screening program are discussed. Binocular indirect opththalmoscopy and wide-field digital retinal imaging were complementary rather than a substitute for each other in a non-telescreening model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two siblings aged 9 and 15 years with unexplained visual loss had normal pupillary reactions, unremarkable anterior and posterior segment, normal fluorescein angiography, visual evoked potential, and flash electroretinogram (ERG). Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed loss of normal inner segment-outer segment (IS-OS) junction line bump at fovea in one and absent IS-OS junction line at fovea in the other. Characteristic hypovoltaged responses from central macula in multifocal ERG (mfERG) confirmed the diagnosis of occult macular dystrophy (OMD) in both siblings. Marked difference in OCT findings despite same visual acuity indicate that structural changes in OCT might not always correlate with the extent of functional loss. Obvious mfERG changes and very subtle OCT defect in the younger one suggests that functional changes probably appear much earlier than the structural changes. OMD is often underdiagnosed because of lack of high index of suspicion and detailed work up. The patients presented here represent first OMD report from India, one of them being the second youngest reported so far (medline search). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A seven-month-old male child was brought in for an eye test for poor vision and nystagmus noticed from four months of age. The child had delayed milestones of development and multiple (six times) episodes of unexplained lower respiratory tract infection (from two months of age) treated by pediatricians at different centers without complete cure. Fundus examination showed bilateral cherry-red spots at the macula. There were diffusely distributed hyper-pigmented patches (Mongolian spots) on the back and extensor aspect of the extremities. The case was sent back to the pediatricians for a re-evaluation to rule out storage disorder. Lysosomal enzyme assay in the leucocytes showed a significantly reduced β-galactosidase level (15.6 nmol/hr/mg protein in contrast to a normal range of 79.6 to 480.0). This confirmed the patient to be a case of lysosomal storage disease, the GM1 gangliosidosis (type I). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report three cases of submacular haemorrhage due to polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) treated with intravitreal bevacizumab and pneumatic displacement with perfluoropropane (C3F8) gas. The patients were between 45 to 55 years and presented with reduction of vision (20/400 to 20/80) within two weeks of onset of symptoms. The submacular (sub-retinal plus sub-retinal pigment epithelium [RPE]) hemorrhages was confirmed as PCV on indocyanine green angiography and optical coherence tomography in all of them. They were treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 ml) and 0.3 ml of 100% C3F8 gas in the affected eye followed by prone positioning for two weeks. The vision and macular anatomy started improving within a week and continued up to three months. These cases demonstrate that pneumatic displacement combined with intravitreal anti-VEGF injection could be a promising option in patients with PCV and sub-macular blood, even when the blood is beneath the RPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 27-year-old female, on anti-tubercular therapy for miliary tuberculosis for 1 week, presented with gradual diminution of right eye vision for 4 months. Right eye visual acuity was counting fingers at 15 cm. Right fundus showed a yellowish-white vascularized lesion, 4 disc diameters in size, overlying the optic disc and associated neurosensory macular detachment. The left eye was normal. A Mantoux test was negative. The authors diagnosed presumed optic disc tuberculoma in the right eye. Oral prednisolone in tapering doses was added to the anti-tubercular therapy. The optic disc lesion regressed with residual scarring and vision became 20/30 at 7 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented which discusses the condition of a 28-year-old male patient with multiple organ failure including acute pancreatitis, acute renal failure and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Purpose: To evaluate the outcome and ocular adverse events of bedside bilateral sequential intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) (BBSIR)., Methods: This retrospective interventional study included infants who received BBSIR with a follow-up of at least 1 month. Clinical history, intravitreal injection details, indications, intraoperative and postoperative ocular adverse events, and outcomes were analyzed., Results: The study cohort included 192 babies (384 eyes) spread over 9 years. The mean gestational age was 30.2 ± 2.6 weeks (28.8-34.1), and the birth weight was 1098.11 ± 271.65 g (650-2000). The indications for BBSIR were as follows: 73.4% (n = 141 infants) were too sick to transfer to an ophthalmic unit, 10.9% (n = 21 infants) due to the parents' inconvenience of traveling to the ophthalmic center, and 15. 6% (n = 30 infants) due to both reasons. The injections were given by an ROP specialist/ROP-trained ophthalmologist after due parental consent, considering each eye as a fresh eye with separate scrubbing and draping. Light from the head-worn indirect ophthalmoscope served as the source of illumination. The retinopathy was regressing/regressed in 92.4% of babies until the last follow-up. The major ocular complication was cataract in 2 eyes (0.5%). There was no incidence of endophthalmitis till last follow-up (median 5.7 months)., Conclusions: As per this study, BBSIR was observed to be effective and safe if given by those fully trained in the management of ROP. Though the rate of complications like cataract is small, they can pose management challenges and impact vision in a growing child., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.)

Atypical mycobacteria or non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are a group of acid-fast bacteria that are pathogenic to different parts of the eye. The organisms can cause a spectrum of ocular infections including keratitis, scleritis, uveitis, endophthalmitis and orbital cellulitis. Trauma, whether surgical or nonsurgical, has the highest correlation with development of this infection. Common surgeries after which these infections have been reported include laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and scleral buckle surgery. The organism is noted to form biofilms with sequestration of the microbe at different inaccessible locations leading to high virulence. Collection of infective ocular material (corneal scraping/necrotic scleral tissue/abscess material/vitreous aspirate, etc.) and laboratory identification of the organism through microbiologic testing are vital for confirming presence of the infection and initiating treatment. In cluster infections, tracing the source of infection in the hospital setting via testing of different in-house samples is equally important to prevent further occurrences. Although the incidence of these infections is low, their presence can cause prolonged disease that may often be resistant to medical therapy alone. In this review, we describe the various types of NTM-ocular infections, their clinical presentation, laboratory diagnosis, management, and outcomes., (Copyright © 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.)

Purpose: To analyze the impact of a revised care plan for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a tertiary eye care facility in eastern India., Methods: In a retrospective study, we analyzed the medical records of babies managed for ROP during the peak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with particular reference to the challenges, and the revised strategies addressing travel restrictions for five months, from April to August 2020. The strategy included selective referral (babies with higher treatment probability), longer follow-up intervals (babies with non-alarming findings), use of locally available workforce, and teleconsultation whenever feasible., Results: In the given period, 222 babies were examined versus 624 in the preceding year (P = 0.001). The average gestational age, birth weight, and postmenstrual age at presentation were 30.4 weeks, 1.31 kg, and 37.7 weeks, respectively. The first examination was on time in 40.1% of babies but was delayed by a median of 23 days in the remaining babies. In the cohort, 56.7% of babies had any ROP, and 27.9% required treatment (versus 8.8% in the previous year; P < 0.001). The intravitreal anti-vascular growth factor (anti-VEGF) injection was more often used than in the previous year (n = 72 vs 36; P < 0.0001). The treatment outcome was comparable before and after the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown period. There was no report of health issues among the care providers attributable to ROP care., Conclusion: The revised strategy resulted in a smaller pool of babies screened but a larger proportion of babies treated for ROP. This strategy could be used more profitably in future ROP care., Competing Interests: None

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in children worldwide. Middle-income nations are currently experiencing epidemic levels of ROP, because greater access to neonatal intensive care units has improved survival rates of premature infants, but without sophisticated oxygen regulation. The epidemiology, screening infrastructure, treatment options, and challenges that these countries face are often tied to unique local socioeconomic, cultural, geopolitical, and medical factors. We present an overview and narratives of the current state of ROP in eight countries that are or soon will be experiencing ROP epidemics-India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Phillipines, Romania, Thailand, and Venezuela-with a view to fostering both an understanding of the differences in the ROP landscape in various settings and an interest in the further development of ROP screening and treatment services tailored to local requirements., (Copyright ©2019. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without expressed written permission of the Digital Journal of Ophthalmology is prohibited.)