Treatment of Bilateral Endogenous Aspergillus Endophthalmitis with Multiple Intravitreal Voriconazole Injections with Good Visual Outcome

Endogenous endophthalmitis caused by <i>Aspergillus</i> species tends to be very aggressive, often leading to devastating visual outcomes. Historically, intravitreal amphotericin injections have played a central role in management, but with variable visual outcomes and a risk of toxicity. Limited reports suggest that use of intravitreal voriconazole is a safe and efficacious alternative, though these cases were treated with only few intravitreal injections. Here, we report a case of bilateral endogenous <i>Aspergillus</i> endophthalmitis treated with 8 intravitreal voriconazole injections in the right eye and 11 in the left eye with good best-corrected final visual outcome (20/50 right eye and 20/40 left eye).

Efficacy of fovea-sparing internal limiting membrane peeling for epiretinal membrane foveoschisis

Purpose: To investigate the outcomes of vitrectomy with fovea-sparing internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling (FSIP) for epiretinal membrane foveoschisis based on new optical coherence tomography definitions. Methods: 27 eyes of 28 patients (67.2 ± 10.5 years old) who underwent vitrectomy with FSIP without gas tamponade for epiretinal membrane foveoschisis were included. All patients underwent follow-up examinations for at least 12 months. In the FSIP technique, the ILM is peeled off in a donut shape, preserving the foveal ILM. The logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution best-corrected visual acuity (logMAR BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), and surgical complications were examined. Results: The BCVA at 12 months improved significantly from baseline (p < 0.001). Baseline ellipsoid zone defects were found in 3 eyes (10%), and all defective eyes had recovered at 12 months. CMT decreased significantly from baseline (p < 0.001). Acute macular edema, full-thickness macular hole, and recurrence of epiretinal membrane were not observed during follow-up. Conclusion: FSIP achieved good visual outcome and retinal morphological change. Moreover, FSIP might avoid acute macular edema in epiretinal membrane foveoschisis surgery.

Emergency Ocular Telehealth Services

The availability of ocular telehealth services in the emergency department and urgent care center settings can facilitate the diagnosis and management of ocular complaints. While the start-up costs involving ophthalmic equipment and training modules may seem high, it is well worth the investment knowing that these services will increase patient satisfaction, improve overall clinical outcomes, and aid in the physician decision-making process in regard to patient transfers for eye emergencies. Although the majority of ophthalmic urgencies can be managed as outpatient, true ophthalmic emergencies may require more immediate evaluation in order to preserve good visual outcome. Gaps in the availability of ophthalmologists needed for the immediate evaluation of eye emergencies can be filled by the implementation of ocular telehealth.

Open Globe Injuries: Classifications and Prognostic Factors for Functional Outcome

This paper explored epidemiology and evaluation of posterior segment involvement as prognostic factors for functional outcome of patients with open globe injuries. A retrospective analysis of 151 patients with open globe injuries was conducted. Pre- and postoperative-corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), epidemiologic data, classification of the injuries including the ocular trauma score (OTS), performed surgeries, intraocular pressure (IOP) and correlation analyses between OTS and postoperative CDVA were obtained. A total of 147 eyes were included in the study. Mean age was 42.9 ± 22.2 years, 78.2% were male, and 36.7% of injuries occurred in the workplace. Thirty-eight patients (25.9%) had intraocular foreign bodies. Concerning injury location, 51.7% of the injuries were located in zone I (cornea, corneoscleral limbus), 15.0% in zone II (up to 5 mm posterior the sclerocorneal limbus) and 32.0% in zone III (posterior of zone 2). Affected structures were eyelids (17.7%), cornea (74.8%), iris (63.9%), lens (56.5%), sclera (48.3%), retina (47.6%) and optic nerve (19.7%). Mean preoperative CDVA was 1.304 ± 0.794 logMAR and 1.289 ± 0.729 logMAR postoperatively (p = 0.780). Patients with posterior segment involvement had significantly worse postoperative CDVA than patients without (1.523 ± 0.654 logMAR vs. 0.944 ± 0.708 logMAR, p < 0.01). Predictive factors for good visual outcome of open globe injuries are good initial CDVA and ocular trauma affecting only zone I and II.

Contractility of temporal inverted internal limiting membrane flap after vitrectomy for macular hole

We investigated the postoperative visual outcomes and morphological changes of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap, in patients who underwent the temporal inverted ILM flap technique for macular hole (MH). Between August 2018 and February 2020, 22 eyes of 22 patients with idiopathic or myopic MH who underwent vitrectomy with ILM flap were included in this study and followed-up for more than 6 months. Postoperative MH status, comparison of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) before and 6 months after surgery, changes in the ILM flap area at 1 and 6 months postoperatively, and the factors related to changes in ILM flap size, were analyzed. MH closure was achieved in all of the patients. The BCVA at 6 months postoperatively (0.18 ± 0.15) was significantly better than the preoperative BCVA of 0.63 ± 0.37 (P < 0.001, paired t test). The area of the ILM flap decreased significantly from 3.25 ± 1.27 mm2 at 1 month to 3.13 ± 1.23 mm2 at 6 months (P = 0.024, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Two eyes showed an ILM flap contraction of more than 20%, and one eye required reoperation due to an increase in metamorphopsia and decreased visual acuity. Among age, sex, ILM flap area at 1 month, preoperative BCVA, and axial length, ILM flap contraction was correlated with patient age and ILM flap area. Although vitrectomy with the inverted ILM flap technique confers a good visual outcome, the ILM flap may contract in younger patients.

Visual outcomes of cataract surgery: An observational study of ten years from a tertiary eye care hospital in Pakistan

Objectives: To observe and analyze the visual outcomes of cataract surgery of ten years at a tertiary eye care hospital, Karachi. Methods: An observational study with retrospective data search was conducted in Al Ibrahim Eye Hospital (AIEH), Karachi. Data of all adults (above 16 years) who underwent cataract surgery from 2010-2019 was retrieved from HIMS. Presence of opacity in the lens was labelled as cataract. Surgery was advised when patient’s BCVA was found to be 6/18. Visual assessments of the patients were done on day 01, one week and six weeks postoperatively. Postoperatively, 6/6 – 6/12 was considered as good, 6/18 as mild visual impairment, < 6/18 to 6/60 as moderate visual impairment and < 6/60 as severe visual impairment. Results: A total of 1,027,840 patients visited AIEH with different eye diseases. Among 1027840 individuals, cataract was identified in 88443 (8.6%). Surgery was advised to 58371 and performed in 38616. Records of operated cases (38616) were retrieved. Mean age of patients was 54.96±14.22 years. There were 20578 (53.29%) males and 18038 (46.71%) females who underwent surgery . At the end of sixth week, 3561 (18.4%), patients were found to have “good vision”, 12242 (63.43%) had mild visual impairment, 2676 (13.86%) had moderate visual impairment and 822 (4.26%) had severe visual impairment. Corneal Complications was the commonest cause (33.56%) at sixth week. Conclusions: The institution achieved WHO recommended criteria of “good visual outcome” (6/6 to 6/18) of 81.83% which is near to recommended ≥ 90% and severe visual impairment of 4.26%. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4428 How to cite this:Ahsan S, Memon MS, Bukhari S, Mahmood T, Fahim MF, Haseeb U, et al. Visual outcomes of cataract surgery: An observational study of ten years from a tertiary eye care hospital in Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(7):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4428 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Clinical profile and outcomes of descemetopexy in descemet membrane detachment (DMD) post-cataract surgery

To identify the preoperative risk factors, type of cataract surgery, cataract grade, and final visual outcome in patients undergoing descemetopexy for DMD. This was a retrospective study in which records of patients who underwent descemetopexy with either air or 20% sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) between 1st July 2014 and 30th June 2017. Grade of cataract, type of surgery, visual outcomes, and site of DMD were recorded.The mean age of the patients was 63.21 ± 5.8 years. Of the total 23 cases undergoing descemetopexy, 20 cases (87%) were after manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) and three cases (13%) were post phacoemulsification. The mean duration of presentation with a detachment was 13.03± 10.9 days (1-40 days). The most common types of DMD were total (34.8%) followed by temporal (30.4%) and superior (26.1%). Two patients (8.6%) obtained LOGMAR visual acuity (VA) of 0.0 and 5 of 23 patients (21.7%) achieved LOGMAR VA 0.3 after descemetopexy. Reattachment rates were 87% and three cases had reintervention. : This study identifies mature cataract and pre-existing corneal pathology as major risk factors for DMD during cataract surgery. DMD can be treated effectively and good visual outcome after successful descemetopexy.

Clinical evaluation of penetrating keratoplasty and its visual outcome

The prospective study was carried out at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, medical college, Jabalpur, from 2017-2020, on 30 recipients, who underwent penetrating keratoplasty. The results of the surgery were studied prospectively over a period of 6 months, with follow up at 7 days, 1 month, month and 6 months. Study design: Longitudinal follow up. In our study, penetrating keratoplasty done for optical indications (67%) resulted in fairly good visual outcome, compared to those done for therapeutic indications (23%). The most common complication was corneal vascularisation (56%), and least common was secondary glaucoma (6.66%).

How ‘eye’ helped in von Hippel-Lindau syndrome

Background: Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited multisystemic oncologic syndrome, presenting predominantly with angiomatosis in embryologically similar neurologic tissue such as retina, cerebellum and adrenals. Retinal hemangioblastomas are the hallmark ophthalmic finding. In this case report, we describe the importance of timely diagnosis, thorough systemic examination and treatment of bilaterally asymmetrical retinal hemangioblastomas in a young adult male. Case presentation: A 31-year-old male presented with painless diminution of vision in both eyes, associated with eyestrain and headache. Multiple asymmetric retinal lesions and dilated feeder vessels were noted on ophthalmoscopic examination and confirmed by fluorescein angiography to be retinal hemangioblastomas. Comprehensive systemic examination revealed cerebellar hemangioblastomas and multiple pancreatic and renal cysts. Treatment of retinal lesions was done by combination therapy of argon laser photocoagulation and cryopexy, which lead to a good visual outcome. Subsequently, neurosurgical resection of cerebellar hemangioblastoma proved to be lifesaving for the patient. Conclusion: RHBs are the earliest, easiest and the most frequently detected manifestation of VHL. Identification of ocular manifestations play a pivotal role in early diagnosis and timely intervention in VHL syndrome, thereby significantly reducing associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, an ophthalmologist’s role is crucial in the management of these potentially deadly tumours.

Bilateral Post-typhoid Retinitis: A Case Report

Retinitis following typhoid fever is an immune-mediated reaction that is rarely reported in literature. We present a case of a 20-year-old pregnant female who presented with progressive loss of vision in both eyes for three weeks. She had completed treatment for enteric fever 4 weeks before. Presenting vision was 6/36 in right eye and 3/60 in left eye. Fundus examination showed retinitis with retinal haemorrhages and macular stars in both eyes. After approval from gynaecologist, oral steroid was given. Vision improved significantly to 6/6 in right eye and 6/12 in left eye after 1.5 months of treatment. There was resolution of haemorrhages, exudates and stellate maculopathy. Hence, post-typhoid immune-mediated retinitis is rare sequelae of typhoid fever which can be treated with good visual outcome using oral steroids.