Luzia Diegues Silva MD1, Albert Santos MD1, Flávio Eduardo Hirai MD. Ph.D1, Norma Allemann MD1,2, Adriana Berezovsky Ph.D1, Solange Rios Salomão Ph.D1, Paulo Ricardo Chaves de Oliveira MD1, Gabriel Costa de Andrade MD1, Andre Maia MD1, Luciene Barbosa de Sousa MD1, Lauro Augusto de Oliveira MD. Ph.D.1,*
1 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
2 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Corresponding author: Lauro Augusto de Oliveira
Dear Editor,
We read with interest the comments about our article by Anchouche and associates.
We agree with the authors that B-scan ultrasonography is widely accepted as the gold-standard preoperative imaging modality used to assess the posterior segment in eyes with severe and dense anterior segment opacities and it has been proven to be a useful tool in the preoperative evaluation of Kpro candidates. We also agree that it is safer, cheaper and a less invasive procedure when compared to VE. However, this image modality offers mostly anatomical information and less functional prognosis prediction when compared to direct visualization of the posterior segment achieved with VE.[1]
We are aware and agree with the authors’ concern regarding the invasive nature, the risk of elevated intraocular pressure, and cataract formation as discussed in our work. However, as it is clearly described in our manuscript,...
Luzia Diegues Silva MD1, Albert Santos MD1, Flávio Eduardo Hirai MD. Ph.D1, Norma Allemann MD1,2, Adriana Berezovsky Ph.D1, Solange Rios Salomão Ph.D1, Paulo Ricardo Chaves de Oliveira MD1, Gabriel Costa de Andrade MD1, Andre Maia MD1, Luciene Barbosa de Sousa MD1, Lauro Augusto de Oliveira MD. Ph.D.1,*
1 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
2 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Corresponding author: Lauro Augusto de Oliveira
Dear Editor,
We read with interest the comments about our article by Anchouche and associates.
We agree with the authors that B-scan ultrasonography is widely accepted as the gold-standard preoperative imaging modality used to assess the posterior segment in eyes with severe and dense anterior segment opacities and it has been proven to be a useful tool in the preoperative evaluation of Kpro candidates. We also agree that it is safer, cheaper and a less invasive procedure when compared to VE. However, this image modality offers mostly anatomical information and less functional prognosis prediction when compared to direct visualization of the posterior segment achieved with VE.[1]
We are aware and agree with the authors’ concern regarding the invasive nature, the risk of elevated intraocular pressure, and cataract formation as discussed in our work. However, as it is clearly described in our manuscript, the VE test was performed perioperatively and did not hinder the surgical decision to proceed with KPro surgery. There was no additional anesthesia risk. Cataract formation was not a concern in this scenario because all Kpro candidates in our series would have their lens removed.
The study does have limitations such as the sample size. But this series allowed for an overall better understanding of the endoscopic findings and their usefulness, particularly with the comparative metrics between the preoperative data and postoperative results.
Optimizing the use of keratoprosthesis as an alternative for corneal blindness is challenging in contexts in which the device is not available or affordable. This is a difficult decision faced by surgeons daily, especially in limited-resource settings such as ours. We will continue to investigate strategies for predicting prognosis to allow us to be more precise in the selection of treatment. We agree with the authors that our findings should not be over-generalized. Ideally one cannot deny keratoprosthesis implantation based on unfavourable findings noted on videoendoscopy, but regarding prognostication, we would counsel these patients on potential visual outcomes.
1. Farias CC, Ozturk HE, Albini TA, et al. Use of intraocular video endoscopic examination in the preoperative evaluation of keratoprosthesis surgery to assess visual potential. Am J Ophthalmol 2014;158:80-6.
We were intrigued by the study by Yang et al[1] recently published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. They conducted a detailed analysis of the fundus screening results of 5606 infants over 5 years in tertiary neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in four medical centres in Shanghai, China. They found the detection rate of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)to be 15.9%, and the detection rate of type 1 ROP (1.1%) was lower than that previously reported. The mean gestational age (GA) and birth weight (BW) of infants with ROP have also decreased. Therefore, they suggest modifying the criteria of Chinese ROP screening to GA <32 weeks or BW <1600 g. Application of these criteria to the studied cohort yielded a 98.4% sensitivity, with the infants requiring fundus screening reduced by 43.2%. Therefore, these criteria would reduce medical costs significantly. This is of great significance to the screening and treatment of ROP in China, which has a huge population and regional medical resource imbalances.
However, the study also had issues that need further discussion. First, the patient cohort was not a continuous population-based cohort, and the authors did not clearly state the specific criteria for screening. Therefore, the rate could be the detection rate rather than the true incidence. In addition, the development and general conditions of these patients from NICUs are significantly different from those of the general population. Therefore, although it was a r...
We were intrigued by the study by Yang et al[1] recently published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. They conducted a detailed analysis of the fundus screening results of 5606 infants over 5 years in tertiary neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in four medical centres in Shanghai, China. They found the detection rate of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)to be 15.9%, and the detection rate of type 1 ROP (1.1%) was lower than that previously reported. The mean gestational age (GA) and birth weight (BW) of infants with ROP have also decreased. Therefore, they suggest modifying the criteria of Chinese ROP screening to GA <32 weeks or BW <1600 g. Application of these criteria to the studied cohort yielded a 98.4% sensitivity, with the infants requiring fundus screening reduced by 43.2%. Therefore, these criteria would reduce medical costs significantly. This is of great significance to the screening and treatment of ROP in China, which has a huge population and regional medical resource imbalances.
However, the study also had issues that need further discussion. First, the patient cohort was not a continuous population-based cohort, and the authors did not clearly state the specific criteria for screening. Therefore, the rate could be the detection rate rather than the true incidence. In addition, the development and general conditions of these patients from NICUs are significantly different from those of the general population. Therefore, although it was a relatively representative multi-centre study, these results may not fully represent the incidence in the whole region. More population-based studies on ROP screening in a wider area could supplement and enrich the data of this study, which would provide a more comprehensive and clearer assessment of the incidence of ROP in Shanghai and China.
Second, this was a retrospective study. The authors mentioned that the results could be used as a reliable basis to improve the ROP screening guideline in China, which is insufficiently rigorous. Recent reports show that more mature infants and those with a higher BW are also at risk of developing severe ROP in developing countries [2, 3]. Dou et al [4] reported 20 cases of stage 5 ROP in north-western China, among whom 2 had GA >34 weeks and 4 had BW >2000 g. A prospective study in two medical centres in Shanghai found that if their criteria (GA ≤33 weeks or BW ≤1750 g) were adopted, any infant with ROP who needed treatment would be identified, and the number of infants needing examinations could be reduced by 16.9%[5]. If further prospective observations were conducted to examine the criteria recommended in this study (GA <32 weeks or BW <1600 g) and take the current guideline as a control, it would be more convincing.
Finally, many paediatric patients are referred to Shanghai from neighbouring areas. The investigators did not specify whether the infants were first screened in their medical centres or other hospitals. Therefore, the selection bias of the study could not be evaluated, which weakened the credibility of the results. If the authors could further explain the source and regional distribution of the participants, the results would be more convincing.
Liang Wang, Zifeng Zhang, Manhong Li, Yusheng Wang
Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Institute of Chinese PLA, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
Correspondence to Zifeng Zhang, Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Institute of Chinese PLA, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China; Email: zzffmmu@163.com; Yusheng Wang, Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Institute of Chinese PLA, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China; Email: wangys003@126.com
Funding Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81770936)
References
1 Yang Q, Zhou X, Ni Y, et al. Optimised retinopathy of prematurity screening guideline in China based on a 5-year cohort study. Br J Ophthalmol, doi: 1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316401
2 Zhang Z, Li M, Wang Y, et al. Analysis of retinopathy of prematurity with birth weight higher than 2 kg in Xi'an area. Chin J Ophthalmol 2014;50:184-8.
3 Chen Y, Li X. Characteristics of severe retinopathy of prematurity patients in China: a repeat of the first epidemic? Br J Ophthalmol 2006;90:268-71.
4 Dou G, Li M, Zhang Z, et al. Demographic profile and ocular characteristics of stage 5 retinopathy of prematurity at a referral center in Northwest China: implications for implementation. BMC Ophthalmol 2018;18. doi: 10.1186/s12886-018-0975-z
5 Xu Y, Zhou X, Zhang Q, et al. Screening for retinopathy of prematurity in China: a neonatal units-based prospective study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2013;54:8229-36
We read with interest the study by Silva and colleagues.[1] The authors investigate the prognostic potential of B-scan ultrasonography, visual electrophysiology and perioperative videoendoscopy (VE) for 13 patients undergoing keratoprosthesis (KPro) surgery and identified perioperative intraocular VE as a predictor of functional visual outcome at 1-year follow-up.[1] While we find this study interesting, we would like to caution against the interpretation and over-generalization of the findings reported therein.
Negative predictive value (NPV) was as defined as the number of patients with abnormal VE findings and subsequent unsatisfactory visual acuity over all patients with unfavourable VE. The authors report a NPV of 50% in 10 patients. By contrast, they report a positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% for this test.[1] Although a high PPV, as reported by the authors, is of great importance when deciding which patients are appropriate KPro candidates preoperatively, once the patient is undergoing surgery, we believe identifying patients at highest risk of poor visual outcome using NPV is more clinically relevant. The small sample size of 10 patients with a low prevalence of patients with unsatisfactory post-operative visual acuity, and NPV of 50% are important limitations of this study. From these findings, we are unable to justify VE's clinical benefit to the surgeon and their patient at the time of surgery. This is especially true give...
We read with interest the study by Silva and colleagues.[1] The authors investigate the prognostic potential of B-scan ultrasonography, visual electrophysiology and perioperative videoendoscopy (VE) for 13 patients undergoing keratoprosthesis (KPro) surgery and identified perioperative intraocular VE as a predictor of functional visual outcome at 1-year follow-up.[1] While we find this study interesting, we would like to caution against the interpretation and over-generalization of the findings reported therein.
Negative predictive value (NPV) was as defined as the number of patients with abnormal VE findings and subsequent unsatisfactory visual acuity over all patients with unfavourable VE. The authors report a NPV of 50% in 10 patients. By contrast, they report a positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% for this test.[1] Although a high PPV, as reported by the authors, is of great importance when deciding which patients are appropriate KPro candidates preoperatively, once the patient is undergoing surgery, we believe identifying patients at highest risk of poor visual outcome using NPV is more clinically relevant. The small sample size of 10 patients with a low prevalence of patients with unsatisfactory post-operative visual acuity, and NPV of 50% are important limitations of this study. From these findings, we are unable to justify VE's clinical benefit to the surgeon and their patient at the time of surgery. This is especially true given the invasive nature, cost and associated complications of this ancillary test. In addition to the risk of elevated intraocular pressure and cataract formation as outlined by the authors, the use of perioperative VE increases the risk of iatrogenic retinal tears, vitreous hemorrhage, and wound leaks,[2] not to mention the risk of retrobulbar anaesthesia,[3] all of which are morbid complications in KPro eyes. Moreover, 23% of the patient cohort (n=3) were excluded from analysis due to technical issues relating to perioperative VE. This highlights the additional challenges this ancillary test may present to the surgeon and their team.
Although prognosticating the visual outcomes of KPro and identifying which patients are at highest risk of KPro failure remain important areas of research and discussion, we believe the data presented by the authors are insufficient to position VE as a predictive perioperative ancillary test and urge readers to consider the associated risks to the patient and medical costs to the healthcare system. B-scan ultrasonography is widely accepted as the gold-standard preoperative imaging modality used to assess the posterior segment in eyes with severe and dense anterior segment opacities.[4] After reading this study, we believe that B-scan ultrasonography remains the method of choice for KPro preoperative evaluations.
References:
1. Silva, L. D. et al. B-scan ultrasound, visual electrophysiology and perioperative videoendoscopy for predicting functional results in keratoprosthesis candidates. Br. J. Ophthalmol. (2020).
2. Nagiel, A. et al. VISUAL AND ANATOMIC OUTCOMES OF PEDIATRIC ENDOSCOPIC VITRECTOMY IN 326 CASES. Retina (2020).
3. Hamilton, R. C. A discourse on the complications of retrobulbar and peribulbar blockade. Can. J. Ophthalmol. (2000).
4. Williamson, S. L. & Cortina, M. S. Boston type 1 keratoprosthesis from patient selection through postoperative management: A review for the keratoprosthetic surgeon. Clinical Ophthalmology (2016).
Kruglyakova, et al recently published an excellent paper about visually pertinent correlation of optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) with intra-operative photographic measurements1. We recently reported similar findings without subjecting children to general anesthesia if ultra-widefield imaging (OPTOS; Dunfermline, UK) is available2. We agree that a MD/DD ratio greater than 3.22 (≥3.51) is consistent with clinical optic nerve hypoplasia but our direct measure of horizontal optic nerve size was even more predictive utilizing our definition of logMAR for pediatric and low vision patients3. Instead of starting from the temporal edge of the optic nerve to determine MD (macula-disk) distance, we found the center of the optic nerve more uniform. In addition, we have also noted a worrisome relationship between ONH and threshold retinopathy of prematurity4 and wonder if the authors also found any association between the two common pediatric blinding conditions ONH and ROP?
References:
1. Kruglyakova J, Garcia-Filion P, Nelson M, Borchert M. Orbital MRI versus fundus photography in the diagnosis of optic nerve hypoplasia and prediction of vision. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020;104(10):1458-1461.
2. Arnold AW, Eller AM, Smith KA, Grendahl RL, Winkle RK, Arnold RW. Direct nerve size determination and prevalent optic nerve hypoplasia in Alaska. Clin Ophthalmol. 2020;14:491—499.
3. Arnold RW. Digital values for alpha acuities. JPOS. 2020:In Press.
4. Arnold RW. Opti...
Kruglyakova, et al recently published an excellent paper about visually pertinent correlation of optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) with intra-operative photographic measurements1. We recently reported similar findings without subjecting children to general anesthesia if ultra-widefield imaging (OPTOS; Dunfermline, UK) is available2. We agree that a MD/DD ratio greater than 3.22 (≥3.51) is consistent with clinical optic nerve hypoplasia but our direct measure of horizontal optic nerve size was even more predictive utilizing our definition of logMAR for pediatric and low vision patients3. Instead of starting from the temporal edge of the optic nerve to determine MD (macula-disk) distance, we found the center of the optic nerve more uniform. In addition, we have also noted a worrisome relationship between ONH and threshold retinopathy of prematurity4 and wonder if the authors also found any association between the two common pediatric blinding conditions ONH and ROP?
References:
1. Kruglyakova J, Garcia-Filion P, Nelson M, Borchert M. Orbital MRI versus fundus photography in the diagnosis of optic nerve hypoplasia and prediction of vision. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020;104(10):1458-1461.
2. Arnold AW, Eller AM, Smith KA, Grendahl RL, Winkle RK, Arnold RW. Direct nerve size determination and prevalent optic nerve hypoplasia in Alaska. Clin Ophthalmol. 2020;14:491—499.
3. Arnold RW. Digital values for alpha acuities. JPOS. 2020:In Press.
4. Arnold RW. Optic nerve hypoplasia potentiates retinopathy of prematurity. J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2008;45(4):247-249.
McCann et al. reported factors of the associations with intraocular pressure (IOP) and circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (cRNFL) thickness (1). Increased IOP and reduced cRNFL were associated with increased age, myopic refractive error, male sex and hypertension. In addition, Alzheimer's disease was associated with thinner average global cRNFL, and Parkinson's disease (PD) and current smoking status were associated with thicker average global cRNFL, and I present recent information regarding their study in patients with PD.
Murueta-Goyena et al. reported the association between the changes of retinal thickness and their predictive value as biomarkers of disease progression in idiopathic PD (2). The authors used macular ganglion-inner plexiform layer complex (mGCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness reduction rates, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaire was also applied. The adjusted relative risks of lower parafoveal mGCIPL and pRNFL thickness at baseline for an increased risk of cognitive decline at 3 years significantly increased. This means that reduced retinal thickness is a risk factor of cognitive impairment in patients with PD. McCann et al. did not evaluate cRNFL in PD patients with cognitive impairment, and I suppose that progression of cognitive impairment in patients with PD might accelerate reduction of average global cRNFL.
Second, Sung et al. also investigated the association be...
McCann et al. reported factors of the associations with intraocular pressure (IOP) and circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (cRNFL) thickness (1). Increased IOP and reduced cRNFL were associated with increased age, myopic refractive error, male sex and hypertension. In addition, Alzheimer's disease was associated with thinner average global cRNFL, and Parkinson's disease (PD) and current smoking status were associated with thicker average global cRNFL, and I present recent information regarding their study in patients with PD.
Murueta-Goyena et al. reported the association between the changes of retinal thickness and their predictive value as biomarkers of disease progression in idiopathic PD (2). The authors used macular ganglion-inner plexiform layer complex (mGCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness reduction rates, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaire was also applied. The adjusted relative risks of lower parafoveal mGCIPL and pRNFL thickness at baseline for an increased risk of cognitive decline at 3 years significantly increased. This means that reduced retinal thickness is a risk factor of cognitive impairment in patients with PD. McCann et al. did not evaluate cRNFL in PD patients with cognitive impairment, and I suppose that progression of cognitive impairment in patients with PD might accelerate reduction of average global cRNFL.
Second, Sung et al. also investigated the association between retinal thinning and cognitive impairment in patients with PD (3). There were significant reductions in the thickness of average, temporal, and inferior pRNFL and overall mGCIPL in patients with PD, and the MoCA score was significantly associated with mGCIPL thinning. As the thinning of the mGCIPL was also significantly associated with the volumetric parameters of some brain structures, the relationship between retinal thickness and brain structures in patients with PD should be comprehensively evaluated with special reference to the level of cognitive impairment.
Finally, Matlach et al. reported that thinning of some retinal layers of the ipsilateral eye was observed in the most-affected body side of PD patients (4). In addition, thickness of pRNFL and mGCIPL did not correlate to the severity of PD. As Murueta-Goyena et al. reported that there was no significant association between retinal thickness and motor deterioration (2), the discrepancy in the relationship of cognitive decline and motor deterioration with retinal thickness might be related to the lack of relationship between retinal thickness and the severity of PD.
References
1. McCann P, Hogg R, Wright DM, et al. Intraocular pressure and circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA): distributions and associations. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020 Jul 30 doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316499 [Epub ahead of print]
2. Murueta-Goyena A, Del Pino R, Galdós M, et al. Retinal thickness predicts the risk of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease. Ann Neurol 2020 Oct 24 doi: 10.1002/ana.25944 [Epub ahead of print]
3. Sung MS, Choi SM, Kim J, et al. Inner retinal thinning as a biomarker for cognitive impairment in de novo Parkinson's disease. Sci Rep 2019;9:11832.
4. Matlach J, Wagner M, Malzahn U, et al. Retinal changes in Parkinson's disease and glaucoma. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2018 Nov;56:41-46.
I read the interesting manuscript entitled “Effect of a formulated eye drop with Leptospermum spp honey on tear film properties”. Authors have compared a formulated eye drop made of honey and regular lubricant drops finding some advantages of the honey eye drop. While the natural honey mainly composed of sugars, the beneficial effect might merely related to these simple carbohydrates. If authors have decided to find any effect, peculiarly attributed to the honey, they might design a control group with similar composition of simple carbohydrates to disclose the unclouded actual effect of the honey. On the other side, there might be some possible complications of promoting such agents as proved treatments, that have been already in use as alternative home made remedies; we have reported a case of Acanthamoeba keratitis using non-sterile honey eye drop (1).
1. Peyman A, Pourazizi M, Peyman M, Kianersi F. Natural Honey-Induced Acanthamoeba keratitis. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. 2020 Jan 29;26(4):243-245. doi: 10.4103/meajo.MEAJO_56_18. PMID: 32153338; PMCID: PMC7034153.
We thank Alfaar for their comment on our paper titled: “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma: analysis of 1024 patients from 43 African countries and 518 patients from 40 European contries”.[1]
In our paper, we compared the stage of presentation of newly diagnosed retinoblastoma patients from African and European countries and investigated possible associations to the travel distance from home to treatment centre. Our findings suggest that treatment centres in African countries serve patients that reside, on average, in closer proximity to the treatment center than in Europe (186 km average distance travelled in Africa compared to an average distance travelled of 422 km in Europe). In reply to Alfaar’s comment, to produce these numbers, we calculated the average travel distance in a country and then calculated the mean of averages in a continent and compared Africa to Europe.
The red circles in Figure 2 in our original paper,[1] representing the mean travel distance in a continent, were superimposed on each centre on a scaled map. All red circles in Africa are similar in size (i.e. radius of 186 km) and all in Europe are similar (i.e. radius of 422 km).
We agree with Alfaar that our analysis has several limitations, some of which are mentioned in our paper and some, rightfully, in his eLetter. In a study, in which patients from over 80 countries in two continents are included, one cannot take into account all considerations, especiall...
We thank Alfaar for their comment on our paper titled: “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma: analysis of 1024 patients from 43 African countries and 518 patients from 40 European contries”.[1]
In our paper, we compared the stage of presentation of newly diagnosed retinoblastoma patients from African and European countries and investigated possible associations to the travel distance from home to treatment centre. Our findings suggest that treatment centres in African countries serve patients that reside, on average, in closer proximity to the treatment center than in Europe (186 km average distance travelled in Africa compared to an average distance travelled of 422 km in Europe). In reply to Alfaar’s comment, to produce these numbers, we calculated the average travel distance in a country and then calculated the mean of averages in a continent and compared Africa to Europe.
The red circles in Figure 2 in our original paper,[1] representing the mean travel distance in a continent, were superimposed on each centre on a scaled map. All red circles in Africa are similar in size (i.e. radius of 186 km) and all in Europe are similar (i.e. radius of 422 km).
We agree with Alfaar that our analysis has several limitations, some of which are mentioned in our paper and some, rightfully, in his eLetter. In a study, in which patients from over 80 countries in two continents are included, one cannot take into account all considerations, especially not at patient (e.g. socioeconomic status) or centre level, as Alfaar suggests.
Alfaar, in the eLetter, indicates, “Egypt’s major paediatric oncology centre, which was included in the study, covers the whole country region”. According to our study,[1] In 2017, more than 100 new retinoblastoma patients presented to this centre. The calculated average travel distance from home to the centre was 178 km (±117), similar to the average in the continent for all African countries. Noteworthy, the western as well as the southern borders of Egypt are each more than 1,000 km long (surface area of more than 1 million km2). The raw data at country level is available at https://zenodo.org/record/3727687#.X4_LgdAzbIU.[2]
Concerning patients traveling abroad to seek medical care, these cases were excluded from the current analysis in both Europe and Africa, but were included in a separate report, titled: “International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: a global cohort study”.[3]
The access to care by children with retinoblastoma in Africa, as demonstrated by the estimated proportion of new retinoblastoma cases seen by treatment centres in Europe versus Africa of over 100% to less than 50%,[1] is compromised due to a variety of factors. A multicentre collaboration,[4,5] including most retinoblastoma treatment centres in Europe and Africa, despite its weaknesses, is of importance to highlight the huge gap in access to care in different regions of the world.
References
1 Fabian ID, Stacey AW, Foster A, et al. Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma: Analysis of 1024 patients from 43 African countries and 518 patients from 40 European countries. Br J Ophthalmol Published Online First: 2020. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316613
2. Fabian ID, Stacey A, Foster A, Kivelä TT, Munier FL, Cassoux N, & Bowman RJC. (2020). Global Retinoblastoma Presentation 2017 data, on behalf of the Global Retinoblastoma Study Group [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727687
3. Bowman R, Foster A, Stacey A, et al. International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: a global cohort study. Int J cancer 2020; Online ahead of print. doi:10.1002/ijc.33350
4 Global Retinoblastoma Study Group. Global Retinoblastoma Presentation and Analysis by National Income Level. JAMA Oncol 2020;6:1–12. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.6716
5 Fabian ID, Stacey AW, Bowman R, et al. Retinoblastoma management during the COVID-19 pandemic: A report by the Global Retinoblastoma Study Group including 194 centers from 94 countries. Pediatr. Blood Cancer. 2020. doi:10.1002/pbc.28584
I have read with interest the paper by Fabian ID et al. “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma”[1]. I acknowledge the efforts conducted by the authors to build a retinoblastoma knowledge based on a large consortium for the first time. Many publications have agreed that the underprivileged socioeconomic situations affect the presentation and outcome of retinoblastoma patients[2, 3]. The measures used in most publications, including the one by Fabian ID et al., are national-level measures. Such socioeconomic measures on the country level affect the roads and travel quality beside family and healthcare giver education and training. A better measure in such cases is an individual level for each family. In developing countries, a vast gap presents between inhabitants letting a country-level measure, not representative. As mentioned in a glimpse in the paper, patients can spend a long time orbiting multiple physicians before targeting the oncology center. On the other side, people with higher economic status can get better healthcare and travel longer distances comfortably and present to centers with early stages.
Furthermore, Figure 2 shows interestingly similar small catchment areas in Africa; this raised a question on the data that were used for drawing the figure; is it individualized for each center? Additionally, if the analysis depended on the permanent address.
Egypt’s major pediatric oncology center, which was included in the study, cover...
I have read with interest the paper by Fabian ID et al. “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma”[1]. I acknowledge the efforts conducted by the authors to build a retinoblastoma knowledge based on a large consortium for the first time. Many publications have agreed that the underprivileged socioeconomic situations affect the presentation and outcome of retinoblastoma patients[2, 3]. The measures used in most publications, including the one by Fabian ID et al., are national-level measures. Such socioeconomic measures on the country level affect the roads and travel quality beside family and healthcare giver education and training. A better measure in such cases is an individual level for each family. In developing countries, a vast gap presents between inhabitants letting a country-level measure, not representative. As mentioned in a glimpse in the paper, patients can spend a long time orbiting multiple physicians before targeting the oncology center. On the other side, people with higher economic status can get better healthcare and travel longer distances comfortably and present to centers with early stages.
Furthermore, Figure 2 shows interestingly similar small catchment areas in Africa; this raised a question on the data that were used for drawing the figure; is it individualized for each center? Additionally, if the analysis depended on the permanent address.
Egypt’s major pediatric oncology center, which was included in the study, covers the whole country region, and about 10 % of its patients are traveling from other countries to get the treatment in the hospital[4], however, this reality was not reflected on the figure. Beside, In the journey of treatment, patients acquire a temporary or interim residence near the hospital due to the hard return to the permanent residence. In Europe, borders are open, cities are connected with high-speed trains, with 420 kilometers can be traveled in 2-3 hours, while in Africa, 185 kilometers can require a day with a significant part of the distance on foot and months for getting a visa if crossing borders is required. Such factors can bias the results.
So, further clarification is required for this figure to answer these question.
References
1. Fabian ID, Stacey AW, Foster A, et al (2020) Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma: analysis of 1024 patients from 43 African countries and 518 patients from 40 European countries. Br J Ophthalmol bjophthalmol-2020-316613. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316613
2. Canturk S, Qaddoumi I, Khetan V, et al (2010) Survival of retinoblastoma in less-developed countries impact of socioeconomic and health-related indicators. Br J Ophthalmol 94:1432–6. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2009.168062
3. Aziz H a, Lasenna CE, Vigoda M, et al (2012) Retinoblastoma treatment burden and economic cost: impact of age at diagnosis and selection of primary therapy. Clin Ophthalmol 6:1601–6. https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S33094
4. El Zomor H, Nour R, Alieldin A, et al (2015) Clinical presentation of intraocular retinoblastoma; 5-year hospital-based registry in Egypt. J Egypt Natl Canc Inst 27:195–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnci.2015.09.002
We read with interest this article by Ong HS et al on “Evolution of therapies for the corneal endothelium: past, present and future approaches”.
As the article mentions, Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors have been described in the regenerative approach to corneal endothelial injury by aiding cell proliferation.1 Due to the wide range of cellular responses controlled by the Rho kinase signalling pathway, ROCK inhibitors play a part in increasing cell adhesion and proliferation of the corneal endothelium. Their clinical use has also been reported with success in Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic corneal decompensation. 0.4% Ripasudil eye drop is the common agent used in these studies.2
Enriching nutrients, antibiotics and other additives have been described in literature to add value to corneal preservation media. It would be interesting to see if addition a Rho kinase inhibitor to the donor corneal preservation medium could enhance the endothelial cell count or limit attrition over longer preservation times. The parameters of the drop in terms of strength, solubility, minimum concentration, side effects if any etc. need to be evaluated prior. Of all the methods described to improve the corneal endothelial health, this is the only one that may be extrapolated to donor corneal tissue also, for better surgical outcomes
It may be worthwhile to test if adding a ROCK inhibitor may enhance donor corneal tissue viability in storage media, under controlled...
We read with interest this article by Ong HS et al on “Evolution of therapies for the corneal endothelium: past, present and future approaches”.
As the article mentions, Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors have been described in the regenerative approach to corneal endothelial injury by aiding cell proliferation.1 Due to the wide range of cellular responses controlled by the Rho kinase signalling pathway, ROCK inhibitors play a part in increasing cell adhesion and proliferation of the corneal endothelium. Their clinical use has also been reported with success in Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic corneal decompensation. 0.4% Ripasudil eye drop is the common agent used in these studies.2
Enriching nutrients, antibiotics and other additives have been described in literature to add value to corneal preservation media. It would be interesting to see if addition a Rho kinase inhibitor to the donor corneal preservation medium could enhance the endothelial cell count or limit attrition over longer preservation times. The parameters of the drop in terms of strength, solubility, minimum concentration, side effects if any etc. need to be evaluated prior. Of all the methods described to improve the corneal endothelial health, this is the only one that may be extrapolated to donor corneal tissue also, for better surgical outcomes
It may be worthwhile to test if adding a ROCK inhibitor may enhance donor corneal tissue viability in storage media, under controlled conditions.
REFERENCES:
1. Okumura N, Okazaki Y,Inoue R, Kazuya Kakutani, et al. Effect of the Rho-Associated Kinase Inhibitor Eye Drop (Ripasudil) on Corneal Endothelial Wound Healing. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2016;57(3):1284-1292.
2. Moshirfar M, Parker L, Birdsong OC, et al. Use of Rho kinase Inhibitors in Ophthalmology: A Review of the Literature. Med Hypothesis Discov Innov Ophthalmol. 2018;7(3):101-111.
Eyes with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) are known to have reduced contrast vision from increased glare even if high-contrast acuity is not affected.1 In a retrospective study, Augustin and colleagues suggested that corneal guttae without edema contribute to decreased contrast sensitivity, and that such eyes would benefit from Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).2 The topic is important because it is unknown whether guttae in the absence of any corneal edema affect vision and therefore whether such eyes truly benefit from DMEK. The authors enrolled eyes with >5 mm of confluent guttae and without edema (modified Krachmer grade 5); however, they did not state their definition of “edema”. In FECD, when corneal edema is not clinically detectable by slit-lamp examination, it can be detected by Scheimpflug tomography.3 A recent study found evidence of subclinical corneal edema in 88% of eyes with FECD grade 5 and almost 40% of eyes with lesser grades of FECD.4 It is therefore highly likely that many of the FECD eyes examined by Augustin and colleagues did in fact have subclinical corneal edema, so can the authors examine the Scheimpflug tomograms of these eyes and report the contrast sensitivity results based on the presence or absence of subclinical edema? This is important because reduced contrast sensitivity might be caused by subclinical edema and not simply by “guttae without edema”, and cornea surgeons should not conclude that it is appr...
Eyes with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) are known to have reduced contrast vision from increased glare even if high-contrast acuity is not affected.1 In a retrospective study, Augustin and colleagues suggested that corneal guttae without edema contribute to decreased contrast sensitivity, and that such eyes would benefit from Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).2 The topic is important because it is unknown whether guttae in the absence of any corneal edema affect vision and therefore whether such eyes truly benefit from DMEK. The authors enrolled eyes with >5 mm of confluent guttae and without edema (modified Krachmer grade 5); however, they did not state their definition of “edema”. In FECD, when corneal edema is not clinically detectable by slit-lamp examination, it can be detected by Scheimpflug tomography.3 A recent study found evidence of subclinical corneal edema in 88% of eyes with FECD grade 5 and almost 40% of eyes with lesser grades of FECD.4 It is therefore highly likely that many of the FECD eyes examined by Augustin and colleagues did in fact have subclinical corneal edema, so can the authors examine the Scheimpflug tomograms of these eyes and report the contrast sensitivity results based on the presence or absence of subclinical edema? This is important because reduced contrast sensitivity might be caused by subclinical edema and not simply by “guttae without edema”, and cornea surgeons should not conclude that it is appropriate to offer DMEK for any eye with guttae. Surgeons and clinicians should recognize that Scheimpflug tomography patterns, which are easily acquired and repeatable,5 are more helpful than guttae assessment for guiding clinical decision-making in FECD.4
References
1. van der Meulen IJ, Patel SV, Lapid-Gortzak R, Nieuwendaal CP, McLaren JW, van den Berg TJ. Quality of vision in patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and after Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Arch Ophthalmol 2011;129:1537-1542.
2. Augustin VA, Weller JM, Kruse FE, Tourtas T. Influence of corneal guttae and nuclear cataract on contrast sensitivity. Br J Ophthalmol 2020.
3. Sun SY, Wacker K, Baratz KH, Patel SV. Determining Subclinical Edema in Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. Revised Classification using Scheimpflug Tomography for Preoperative Assessment. Ophthalmology 2019;126:195-204.
4. Patel SV, Hodge DO, Treichel EJ, Spiegel MR, Baratz KH. Predicting the Prognosis of Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy by using Scheimpflug Tomography. Ophthalmology 2020;127:315-323.
5. Patel SV, Hodge DO, Treichel EJ, Spiegel MR, Baratz KH. Repeatability of Scheimpflug Tomography for Assessing Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. Am J Ophthalmol 2020;215:91-103.
Luzia Diegues Silva MD1, Albert Santos MD1, Flávio Eduardo Hirai MD. Ph.D1, Norma Allemann MD1,2, Adriana Berezovsky Ph.D1, Solange Rios Salomão Ph.D1, Paulo Ricardo Chaves de Oliveira MD1, Gabriel Costa de Andrade MD1, Andre Maia MD1, Luciene Barbosa de Sousa MD1, Lauro Augusto de Oliveira MD. Ph.D.1,*
1 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
2 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Corresponding author: Lauro Augusto de Oliveira
Dear Editor,
We read with interest the comments about our article by Anchouche and associates.
We agree with the authors that B-scan ultrasonography is widely accepted as the gold-standard preoperative imaging modality used to assess the posterior segment in eyes with severe and dense anterior segment opacities and it has been proven to be a useful tool in the preoperative evaluation of Kpro candidates. We also agree that it is safer, cheaper and a less invasive procedure when compared to VE. However, this image modality offers mostly anatomical information and less functional prognosis prediction when compared to direct visualization of the posterior segment achieved with VE.[1]
We are aware and agree with the authors’ concern regarding the invasive nature, the risk of elevated intraocular pressure, and cataract formation as discussed in our work. However, as it is clearly described in our manuscript,...
Show MoreWe were intrigued by the study by Yang et al[1] recently published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. They conducted a detailed analysis of the fundus screening results of 5606 infants over 5 years in tertiary neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in four medical centres in Shanghai, China. They found the detection rate of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)to be 15.9%, and the detection rate of type 1 ROP (1.1%) was lower than that previously reported. The mean gestational age (GA) and birth weight (BW) of infants with ROP have also decreased. Therefore, they suggest modifying the criteria of Chinese ROP screening to GA <32 weeks or BW <1600 g. Application of these criteria to the studied cohort yielded a 98.4% sensitivity, with the infants requiring fundus screening reduced by 43.2%. Therefore, these criteria would reduce medical costs significantly. This is of great significance to the screening and treatment of ROP in China, which has a huge population and regional medical resource imbalances.
Show MoreHowever, the study also had issues that need further discussion. First, the patient cohort was not a continuous population-based cohort, and the authors did not clearly state the specific criteria for screening. Therefore, the rate could be the detection rate rather than the true incidence. In addition, the development and general conditions of these patients from NICUs are significantly different from those of the general population. Therefore, although it was a r...
Dear Editor,
We read with interest the study by Silva and colleagues.[1] The authors investigate the prognostic potential of B-scan ultrasonography, visual electrophysiology and perioperative videoendoscopy (VE) for 13 patients undergoing keratoprosthesis (KPro) surgery and identified perioperative intraocular VE as a predictor of functional visual outcome at 1-year follow-up.[1] While we find this study interesting, we would like to caution against the interpretation and over-generalization of the findings reported therein.
Negative predictive value (NPV) was as defined as the number of patients with abnormal VE findings and subsequent unsatisfactory visual acuity over all patients with unfavourable VE. The authors report a NPV of 50% in 10 patients. By contrast, they report a positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% for this test.[1] Although a high PPV, as reported by the authors, is of great importance when deciding which patients are appropriate KPro candidates preoperatively, once the patient is undergoing surgery, we believe identifying patients at highest risk of poor visual outcome using NPV is more clinically relevant. The small sample size of 10 patients with a low prevalence of patients with unsatisfactory post-operative visual acuity, and NPV of 50% are important limitations of this study. From these findings, we are unable to justify VE's clinical benefit to the surgeon and their patient at the time of surgery. This is especially true give...
Show MoreKruglyakova, et al recently published an excellent paper about visually pertinent correlation of optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) with intra-operative photographic measurements1. We recently reported similar findings without subjecting children to general anesthesia if ultra-widefield imaging (OPTOS; Dunfermline, UK) is available2. We agree that a MD/DD ratio greater than 3.22 (≥3.51) is consistent with clinical optic nerve hypoplasia but our direct measure of horizontal optic nerve size was even more predictive utilizing our definition of logMAR for pediatric and low vision patients3. Instead of starting from the temporal edge of the optic nerve to determine MD (macula-disk) distance, we found the center of the optic nerve more uniform. In addition, we have also noted a worrisome relationship between ONH and threshold retinopathy of prematurity4 and wonder if the authors also found any association between the two common pediatric blinding conditions ONH and ROP?
References:
Show More1. Kruglyakova J, Garcia-Filion P, Nelson M, Borchert M. Orbital MRI versus fundus photography in the diagnosis of optic nerve hypoplasia and prediction of vision. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020;104(10):1458-1461.
2. Arnold AW, Eller AM, Smith KA, Grendahl RL, Winkle RK, Arnold RW. Direct nerve size determination and prevalent optic nerve hypoplasia in Alaska. Clin Ophthalmol. 2020;14:491—499.
3. Arnold RW. Digital values for alpha acuities. JPOS. 2020:In Press.
4. Arnold RW. Opti...
McCann et al. reported factors of the associations with intraocular pressure (IOP) and circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (cRNFL) thickness (1). Increased IOP and reduced cRNFL were associated with increased age, myopic refractive error, male sex and hypertension. In addition, Alzheimer's disease was associated with thinner average global cRNFL, and Parkinson's disease (PD) and current smoking status were associated with thicker average global cRNFL, and I present recent information regarding their study in patients with PD.
Murueta-Goyena et al. reported the association between the changes of retinal thickness and their predictive value as biomarkers of disease progression in idiopathic PD (2). The authors used macular ganglion-inner plexiform layer complex (mGCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness reduction rates, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaire was also applied. The adjusted relative risks of lower parafoveal mGCIPL and pRNFL thickness at baseline for an increased risk of cognitive decline at 3 years significantly increased. This means that reduced retinal thickness is a risk factor of cognitive impairment in patients with PD. McCann et al. did not evaluate cRNFL in PD patients with cognitive impairment, and I suppose that progression of cognitive impairment in patients with PD might accelerate reduction of average global cRNFL.
Second, Sung et al. also investigated the association be...
Show MoreI read the interesting manuscript entitled “Effect of a formulated eye drop with Leptospermum spp honey on tear film properties”. Authors have compared a formulated eye drop made of honey and regular lubricant drops finding some advantages of the honey eye drop. While the natural honey mainly composed of sugars, the beneficial effect might merely related to these simple carbohydrates. If authors have decided to find any effect, peculiarly attributed to the honey, they might design a control group with similar composition of simple carbohydrates to disclose the unclouded actual effect of the honey. On the other side, there might be some possible complications of promoting such agents as proved treatments, that have been already in use as alternative home made remedies; we have reported a case of Acanthamoeba keratitis using non-sterile honey eye drop (1).
1. Peyman A, Pourazizi M, Peyman M, Kianersi F. Natural Honey-Induced Acanthamoeba keratitis. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. 2020 Jan 29;26(4):243-245. doi: 10.4103/meajo.MEAJO_56_18. PMID: 32153338; PMCID: PMC7034153.
We thank Alfaar for their comment on our paper titled: “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma: analysis of 1024 patients from 43 African countries and 518 patients from 40 European contries”.[1]
Show MoreIn our paper, we compared the stage of presentation of newly diagnosed retinoblastoma patients from African and European countries and investigated possible associations to the travel distance from home to treatment centre. Our findings suggest that treatment centres in African countries serve patients that reside, on average, in closer proximity to the treatment center than in Europe (186 km average distance travelled in Africa compared to an average distance travelled of 422 km in Europe). In reply to Alfaar’s comment, to produce these numbers, we calculated the average travel distance in a country and then calculated the mean of averages in a continent and compared Africa to Europe.
The red circles in Figure 2 in our original paper,[1] representing the mean travel distance in a continent, were superimposed on each centre on a scaled map. All red circles in Africa are similar in size (i.e. radius of 186 km) and all in Europe are similar (i.e. radius of 422 km).
We agree with Alfaar that our analysis has several limitations, some of which are mentioned in our paper and some, rightfully, in his eLetter. In a study, in which patients from over 80 countries in two continents are included, one cannot take into account all considerations, especiall...
I have read with interest the paper by Fabian ID et al. “Travel burden and clinical presentation of retinoblastoma”[1]. I acknowledge the efforts conducted by the authors to build a retinoblastoma knowledge based on a large consortium for the first time. Many publications have agreed that the underprivileged socioeconomic situations affect the presentation and outcome of retinoblastoma patients[2, 3]. The measures used in most publications, including the one by Fabian ID et al., are national-level measures. Such socioeconomic measures on the country level affect the roads and travel quality beside family and healthcare giver education and training. A better measure in such cases is an individual level for each family. In developing countries, a vast gap presents between inhabitants letting a country-level measure, not representative. As mentioned in a glimpse in the paper, patients can spend a long time orbiting multiple physicians before targeting the oncology center. On the other side, people with higher economic status can get better healthcare and travel longer distances comfortably and present to centers with early stages.
Show MoreFurthermore, Figure 2 shows interestingly similar small catchment areas in Africa; this raised a question on the data that were used for drawing the figure; is it individualized for each center? Additionally, if the analysis depended on the permanent address.
Egypt’s major pediatric oncology center, which was included in the study, cover...
We read with interest this article by Ong HS et al on “Evolution of therapies for the corneal endothelium: past, present and future approaches”.
As the article mentions, Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors have been described in the regenerative approach to corneal endothelial injury by aiding cell proliferation.1 Due to the wide range of cellular responses controlled by the Rho kinase signalling pathway, ROCK inhibitors play a part in increasing cell adhesion and proliferation of the corneal endothelium. Their clinical use has also been reported with success in Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic corneal decompensation. 0.4% Ripasudil eye drop is the common agent used in these studies.2
Show MoreEnriching nutrients, antibiotics and other additives have been described in literature to add value to corneal preservation media. It would be interesting to see if addition a Rho kinase inhibitor to the donor corneal preservation medium could enhance the endothelial cell count or limit attrition over longer preservation times. The parameters of the drop in terms of strength, solubility, minimum concentration, side effects if any etc. need to be evaluated prior. Of all the methods described to improve the corneal endothelial health, this is the only one that may be extrapolated to donor corneal tissue also, for better surgical outcomes
It may be worthwhile to test if adding a ROCK inhibitor may enhance donor corneal tissue viability in storage media, under controlled...
Eyes with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) are known to have reduced contrast vision from increased glare even if high-contrast acuity is not affected.1 In a retrospective study, Augustin and colleagues suggested that corneal guttae without edema contribute to decreased contrast sensitivity, and that such eyes would benefit from Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).2 The topic is important because it is unknown whether guttae in the absence of any corneal edema affect vision and therefore whether such eyes truly benefit from DMEK. The authors enrolled eyes with >5 mm of confluent guttae and without edema (modified Krachmer grade 5); however, they did not state their definition of “edema”. In FECD, when corneal edema is not clinically detectable by slit-lamp examination, it can be detected by Scheimpflug tomography.3 A recent study found evidence of subclinical corneal edema in 88% of eyes with FECD grade 5 and almost 40% of eyes with lesser grades of FECD.4 It is therefore highly likely that many of the FECD eyes examined by Augustin and colleagues did in fact have subclinical corneal edema, so can the authors examine the Scheimpflug tomograms of these eyes and report the contrast sensitivity results based on the presence or absence of subclinical edema? This is important because reduced contrast sensitivity might be caused by subclinical edema and not simply by “guttae without edema”, and cornea surgeons should not conclude that it is appr...
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