Diagnosis and Monitoring of Choroidal Osteoma through Multimodal Imaging.

A 16-year-old Caucasian female with a 6-month history of decreased visual acuity and metamorphopsia in the left eye is reported. The fundus of the left eye revealed a well defined lesion in the macula region. Diagnosis of choroidal osteoma was established using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), indocyanine green angiography (ICG), and B-scan ultrasonography. Subretinal fluid (SRF) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) detachment were noted in the absence of obvious classic choroidal neovascularisation (CNV). The patient was followed up for over 13 months without any treatment in the interim and the lesion was noted to have enlarged but visual acuity and SRF had remained stable. We report an interesting case where subretinal fluid was noted in the absence of evident choroidal neovascularisation and provide an example of the imaging modalities application in the era of "optical biopsy."

Vitamin status as a determinant of serum homocysteine concentration in type 2 diabetic retinopathy.

We investigated the association of serum homocysteine levels and vitamin status with type 2 diabetic retinopathy. This study included 65 patients with and 75 patients without diabetic retinopathy. Patients with diabetic retinopathy had significantly higher serum homocysteine levels (P < 0.001), higher prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia (P < 0.001), lower serum folic acid (P < 0.001), and vitamin B12 (P = 0.014) levels than those without diabetic retinopathy. Regression analysis revealed that homocysteine was an independent risk factor for diabetic retinopathy and there was a threshold in its serum level (13.7 µ mol/L), above which the risk of diabetic retinopathy greatly increases (OR = 1.66, P = 0.001). Folic acid was associated with decreased odds for diabetic retinopathy (OR = 0.73, P < 0.001). There was a threshold in serum vitamin B12 level (248.4 pg/mL), below which serum homocysteine concentration significantly increases with decreasing serum vitamin B12 (P = 0.003). Our findings suggest that hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. Decreased serum levels of folic acid and vitamin B12, through raising serum homocysteine concentrations, may also affect the diabetic retinopathy risk.