EW Weekly, March 1, 2019
FDA approves LOTEMAX SM for postop inflammation, pain
NIH and NEI award grant to LumiThera for trial related to dry AMD
Confirmatory results announced from second Phase 3 registration study for mydriasis agent
Roche to acquire Spark Therapeutics
Research briefs
- Several months after cataract surgery, persistent tear instability and corneal epitheliopathy occurred in a group of patients. Led by A. Hanyuda, the study included 172 patients with bilateral cataract surgery and 1,225 controls with no cataracts who were evaluated for their subjective dry eye symptoms. Patients in the group with previous cataract surgery had cataract surgery at least 5 months before the study recruitment date. The subjective symptoms were generally inversely associated with cataract surgery. Pseudophakic patients had a 57% increased prevalence of severe keratoconjunctivitis (P= 0.02). Significantly lower odds of sensitivity to bright light were detected among the patients compared with the controls. The research demonstrates the importance of evaluating ocular surface conditions in pseudophakic patients, the authors concluded. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
- There is a substantially greater potential productivity loss associated with visual impairment and blindness resulting from uncorrected myopia compared with the cost of myopia correction, reported Kovin Naidoo, PhD, and coresearchers in their systematic review and meta-analysis. Their review estimated loss from uncorrected myopia and myopic macular generation in 2015. Those with myopia were less likely to have adequate optical correction if they were older or lived in rural areas of less developed countries, the researchers wrote. There was a $244 billion global potential productivity loss associated with the burden of vision impairment from uncorrected myopia and $6 billion from myopic macular degeneration. Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia bore the greatest potential burden as a proportion of their economic activity; East Asia had the greatest potential burden in absolute terms. The study appears in Ophthalmology.
- Patient compliance with follow-up after cataract surgery was more likely to occur in those who were female, younger than 70 years, paying for their own surgery, and if they had phacoemulsification instead of manual small incision cataract surgery (P<0.001 for all), according to Sachin Gupta, PhD, and coresearchers, in their hospital-based retrospective cohort study. Researchers analyzed data from 86,776 cataract surgeries at one hospital in India; all patients were asked to return for follow-up after 1 month. The study compared follow-up rates between patients with different demographic characteristics, surgical factors, and preop and discharge visual acuity. The overall follow-up rate was 85.6%. Patients who had complications, reoperations, or poorer visual acuity at discharge were less likely to follow up (P<0.001). Targeted interventions to boost follow-up should be aimed at patients with characteristics found in the study, the authors concluded. The research appears in the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
- Severe iris damage is associated with a rapid reduction in endothelial cell density and graft endothelial failure after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), reported Osama Ibrahim, MD, and coresearchers. Their prospective consecutive study included 74 patients who had PKP without graft rejection during the follow-up. Endothelial cell density was measured with specular microscopy at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after PKP. Slit lamp microscopy or anterior segment OCT imaging was used to determine iris damage scores. Graft endothelial cell density decreased from 2674 ± 329 cells/mm2 to 2114 ± 570 at 1 month, 1907 ± 629 at 3 months, 1669 ± 738 at 6 months, and 1404 ± 792 at 12 months (P<0.0001 for all). Endothelial cell density at 12 months was associated with iris damage scores, graft endothelial cell density, and history of graft failure. The iris damage score also significantly correlated with the percentage of endothelial cell density loss at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. In eyes with severe iris damage, graft survival rates were significantly lower than in eyes with no or mild iris damage (P<0.0001). The study is published in Cornea.
This issue of EyeWorld Weekly Update was edited by Amy Goldenberg and Vanessa Caceres.
EyeWorld Weekly Update (ISSN 1089-0319), a digital publication of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators, is published every Friday, distributed by email, and posted live on Friday.
Medical Editors: Eric Donnenfeld, MD, chief medical editor; Rosa Braga-Mele, MD, cataract editor; Clara Chan, MD, cornea editor; Nathan Radcliffe, MD, glaucoma editor; and Vance Thompson, MD, refractive editor.
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