João Nascimento

Short-term Efficacy And Safety Of Intravitreal Ranibizumab For Myopic Choroidal Neovascularization

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (PM). Metohds: Retrospective, multicenter, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional case series. Participants: Twenty-six eyes of 26 patients with CNV secondary to pathologic myopia; 11 eyes with previous photodynamic therapy; and 15 eyes with no previous treatment. Follow-up: 3 or more months. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ocular coherence tomography, and the presence of metamorphopsia were assessed monthly. Results: At 1 month, 31% of the eyes had an improvement in visual acuity of 3 or more lines. Twenty-six eyes completed 3 months of follow-up, and nine eyes completed 6 months of follow-up. Visual acuity improved significantly from 20/100 at baseline to 20/80 at 1 month (P = 0.003) to 20/63 at 3 months (P < 0.001), and 20/50 at 6 months (P = 0.01). A significant reduction in ocular coherence tomography central thickness was observed at 1, 3, and 6 months. No cases of severe visual acuity loss occurred, and no systemic or ocular side effects were registered during the follow-up. Conclusion: Short-term results of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic CNV are encouraging. Further prospective long-term studies are necessary to evaluate safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab in the treatment of myopic CNV.

Intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization: 12-month results

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab after 12 months in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia. Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional case series. The study included 34 eyes of 32 patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia; 13 eyes had previous photodynamic therapy, and 21 eyes had no previous treatment. The patients were followed for ≥12 months. Best-corrected visual acuity, optical coherence tomography, and the presence of metamorphopsia were assessed monthly. Results: Mean visual acuity improved 8 letters from baseline to 12-month follow-up, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001): 100% of the eyes lost <3 lines on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart, 24% of the eyes improved ≥3 lines, 44% improved ≥2 lines, 65% improved ≥1 line, and 79% improved ≥0 lines. Central retinal thickness decreased significantly from baseline to the 12-month follow-up (P < 0.01). A mean of 3.6 treatments were performed during the 12-month follow-up, and no systemic or ocular side effects were registered during that time. Conclusion: One-year results of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization are very promising. Additional prospective studies are necessary to better determine long-term efficacy and safety.

Three-Dimensional Head-Mounted Display System for Ophthalmic Surgical Procedures

Three-Dimensional Head-Mounted Display System for Ophthalmic Surgical Procedures The term “head-mounted display system” or “helmet-mounted display,” both abbreviated HMS, arose from Ivan Sutherland’s early experiments with HMSs in the late 1960s. Sutherland constructed an HMS that displayed a simple wireframe model on a binocular display.1 The main HMS applications include military, government (fire, police), and civilian-commercial (medicine, video gaming, sports). Military, police, and firefighters use HMSs to display tactical information such as maps or thermal imaging data while viewing a real scene. Recent applications have included the use of HMS for paratroopers. Live 3D digital imaging has been used during anterior segment ophthalmic procedures since the introduction of the TrueVision 3D surgical system in 2008. The heads-up surgery system in the retina world was introduced by Claus Eckardt in 2014 to overtake several setbacks related to traditional ocular microsurgery using a binocular microscope, mainly in terms of superior ergonomics for the surgeon.2,3 In this system, the surgeon performs ophthalmic procedures by viewing the microscopic image on a large flat panel display sent from a 3D camera, by suppressing the use of eyepieces of a microscope. Herein, the authors describe an innovative technique through the successful use of HMS in the field of ophthalmology, encompassing all the advantages provided by a 3D display system. Surgical Technique

The Portuguese Experience with Ocriplasmin in Clinical Practice

Aim: Evaluate the real-life experience with ocriplasmin on vitreomacular traction (VMT) release and full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) closure in Portugal. Methods: Multicentric, retrospective study of 83 eyes of 78 patients who were treated with intravitreal ocriplasmin for VMT with and without FTMH. Primary outcomes were VMT release and FTMH closure. Secondary outcomes included visual acuity changes and structural features on spectral-domain ocular coherence tomography. Results: VMT resolved in 47 of the 83 eyes (56.6%) and 6 of the 12 FTMH were closed (50.0%). Mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from 65.1 at baseline to 70.8 ETDRS letters at the end of follow-up (p < 0.0001) with a mean follow-up of 138.8 days. Improvement in BCVA was significantly better in eyes with VMT release (p = 0.021). Approximately 73% of patients had normal ellipsoid zone integrity at the end of follow-up, 87% had no neurosensorial detachment and 40% had no intra- or subretinal fluid. Conclusion: VMT release and FTMH closure were achieved in more than half of the treated eyes and were correlated with significant BCVA improvements and favorable baseline characteristics. In fact, if a careful patient selection is carried out, VMT resolution with ocriplasmin can be optimized, tailoring the best approach to each patient.

Acknowledgements to the Referees

www.karger.com/ore Abcouwer, Steven Ajtony, Csilla Aragona, Pasquale Arévalo, J. Fernando Arias, Lluis Augustin, Albert J. Aveleira, Célia A. Balaskas, Konstantinos Barsam, Allon Bi, Hongsheng Bowl, Wadim Bringmann, Andreas Chatziralli, Irini Chowers, Itay Christoforidis, John Costa, Esmeralda Cruchaga, Carlos Davis, Benjamin De Groef, Lies Digiuni, Maurizio Donate-Lopez, Juan Duran, Juan Fernandes, Rosa Fonollosa, Alex Georgiou, Anne Harrison, Ian He, Mingguang Heeren, Tjebo Hjortdal, Jesper Hussain, Ali Jaksic, Vesna Kalogeropoulos, Christos Kanonidou, Evgenia Kondo, Hiroyuki Kroupis, Christos Kühlewein, Laura Kusaka, Shunji Lai, Chi-Chun Lengyel, Imre Martin, Gottfried Martins, João Mathew, Raeba Medeiros, Marco D. Mesquida, Marina Murta, Joaquim Nakahara, Tsutomu Ni Dhubhghaill, Sorcha Noda, Kousuke Panos, Georgios Paques, Michel Parisi, Vincenzo Picaud, Serge A. Pinazo-Duran, Maria Dolores Porciatti, Vittorio Quadrado, Maria João Radach, Ralph Rezende, Flavio Rotenstreich, Ygal Rozema, Jos J. Santiago, Ana Raquel Sappington, Rebecca M. Saxena, Sandeep Schlottmann, Patricio Schmetterer, Leopold Sheha, Hosam Shieh, Chi-Chang Silva, Rufino Stahl, Andreas Stalmans, Peter Stieger, Knut Strong, Stacey Suzuma, Kiyoshi Terasaki, Hiroko Tian, Kailin Toth, Marta Tsubota, Kazuo Vujosevic, Stela Watson, Peter Xu, Heping Yanagi, Yasuo Yang, Sung Jae Zarogiannis, Sotirios