Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation experience at King Hussein Medical Centre

To evaluate Ahmed Glaucoma Valve Implantation at King Hussein Medical Center. Indications, outcomes, and complications were investigated. The medical records of all patients who had Ahmed Glaucoma Valve Implant surgery at King Hussein Medical Center during the period between August 2006 and January 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 50 cases were enrolled in this study. A specially designed medical record abstract form was used to collect the following data: type of glaucoma, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, number of medications, and postoperative complications. Simple descriptive statistics [frequency, mean, percentage] were used to describe the study variables. The mean age of patients was 54.3 +/- 2.1 years [range 1.3 to 79.9 years]. Types of glaucoma included uveitic glaucoma, paediatric glaucoma, aphakic/ pseudophakic glaucoma, neo-vascular glaucoma, traumatic glaucoma and previous failed trabeculectomy. The mean follow-up duration was 16.6 +/- 1.7 months [range 9.8 months to 26.1 months]. The mean intraocular pressure before surgery was 28.6 mm and 14.2 mmHg after surgery. The mean number of eye drops used by patient was 3.8 +/- 0.4 [range 1 to 4] and 1.1 +/- 0.2 [range 0 to 3] before and after surgery respectively. Transient postoperative hypotony with shallow anterior chamber occurred in 8 patients. Encapsulated bleb occurred in 5 patients. Revision of the procedure was performed in 3 cases. Endophthalmitis was not encountered in our series. Results of Ahmed Glaucoma Valve Implantation surgery at King Hussein Medical Center showed that it is safe and effective procedure for treating refractory glaucomas

Gold weight implantation for facial palsy at King Hussein Medical Center

To evaluate the outcome of upper eyelid loading with gold weight implant in patients with lagophthalmos due to facial palsy. The indications, results and complications were investigated. A retrospective observational study that was conducted at King Hussein Medical Center between January 2005 and June 2008 on 16 patients with facial palsy of different etiologies. Inclusion criteria included lagophthalmous of more than 5mm, and facial palsy of more than 6 months duration. Degrees of lagophthalmos and corneal coverage were assessed pre- and post- operatively. Follow-up period ranged between six months and three years. The mean age of patients was 57.2 years. The main cause of facial palsy was post cerebellopontine angle tumor surgery [10 patients]. Other causes were Bell's palsy [5 patients], trauma [one patient]. The degree of lagophthalmos improved from 5.8 mm to 0.8 mm on average. Corneal coverage improved from 69% to 99%. No serious complications occurred. Upper lid gold weight loading is an effective and safe procedure in patients with facial palsy lagophthalmos with minimal complications

Hearing loss associated with ocular pseudoexfoliation syndrome

To investigate the type and degree of hearing loss in a group of patients with ocular pseudoexfoliation. Two groups of patients were included prospectively in the present study. The study group consisted of 60 patients of both genders, aged between 55 and 80 years [mean age 67.8 years] who were identified to have pseudoexfoliation in one or both eyes on routine ophthalmic clinical examination at Princess Haya Bent Al-Hussein Military Hospital in Aqaba. The control group consisted of 30 healthy individuals matched for age and gender [mean age 56.9 years]. All participants underwent full ophthalmological and audiological assessments. Normal hearing threshold levels ranging between 10-25 decibels were found in 12 [20%] patients. Moderate sensori-neural hearing loss ranging between 50-70 decibels was found in 15 [25%] patients, high frequency sensori-neural hearing loss in the frequency range above Skilohertz was found in 10 [16.7%] patients, and severe sensori-neural hearing loss ranging between 70-95 decibels hearing level was found in 23 [38.3%] patients. There is evidence of significant association between ocular pseudoexfoliation and sensori-neural hearing loss

Central retinal vein occlusion after sildenafil citrate [Viagra] Use

This is a report of a 31-year old male patient who presented with poor vision of his left eye of one-week duration after the use of two tables of Sildenafil citrate [Viagra] approximatley 24 hours before and 48 hours after the onset of ocular symptoms. Ocular examination was consistent with the diagnosis of systemic central vein occlusion. There was no history of systemic diseases or ocular risk factors for central retinal vein occlusion. To the best of our knowledge, the young man, described here, is the first to be reported to have fulminant central retinal vein occlusion after Sildenafil use. This paper discusses the history, physical examination, and investigations done for the patient