Search

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and 12-month effect of treatment with pattern scanning laser photocoagulation for ocular surface squamous neoplasia in a low-resource setting with extremely limited access to an operating room., Methods: Adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of ocular surface squamous neoplasia underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination. After topical anesthesia and instillation of toluidine blue 1%, the lesion was treated using pattern scanning photocoagulation for a duration time that varied from 20 to 100 ms and power from 600 to 1,800 mW. Patients were examined on a weekly basis for the first month and underwent weekly retreatment of the remaining lesions, as necessary. Patients had a minimum follow-up of 12 months., Results: Thirty-eight patients (38 eyes) were included. All patients had clinical ocular surface squamous neoplasia that was confirmed by impression cytology. The age of patients ranged from 40 to 83 years (average: 65.5 years) and 28 of them were males (74%). The patients were divided into two groups: group I (immunocompetent) and group II (immuno-suppressed). In group I, 23 patients (74%) presented complete response with lesion control after laser treatment alone. In group II, two of seven patients (28%) showed treatment response during the follow-up. The average number of treatments was 2.5 (one to six laser treatments). Procedures were well tolerated., Conclusion: Short-term results of the laser photocoagulation approach for the treatment of ocular surface squamous neoplasia conjunctival lesions were favorable, with a 74% success rate observed in immunocompetent patients. This novel strategy is a less resource-intensive alternative that could demonstrate its usefulness in settings with shortages in operating rooms and in recurrent cases. Studies with longer follow-ups and larger sample sizes are warranted to confirm our findings and evaluate the effectiveness of laser treatment in association with topical chemotherapy.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the effects of oral propranolol for circumscribed choroidal hemangioma., Methods: In this prospective, longitudinal interventional study, we administered oral propranolol at a dosage of 1.5 mg/kg/day to five patients with circumscribed choroidal hemangioma. We then evaluated visual acuity, binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy, optical coherence tomography, optical coherence tomography angiography, fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, and ocular ultrasonography at regular intervals and compared changes from the baseline assessments., Results: No clinical or diagnostic changes were observed in the sizes of the circumscribed choroidal hemangiomas during treatment. Complications due to the hemangioma were reduced in the first four months of treatment, followed by maintenance, before worsening in the subsequent three months., Conclusions: The study showed that oral propranolol at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg/day did not offer effective monotherapy in the treatment of circumscribed choroidal hemangioma.