Clinical features and treatment status of antiacetylcholine receptor antibody-positive ocular myasthenia gravis.

PURPOSE: To clarify the factors predictive of progression from ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) to generalized MG (GMG) among patients with positive antiacetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChRAb) and to evaluate the efficacy of our OMG treatment protocol including tacrolimus (TAC). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with AChRAb positivity and ptosis and/or eye movement disturbance showing diurnal fluctuation and fatigability were included. First, we compared the clinical characteristics of patients without OMG progression (p-OMG) with those of patients whose OMG transformed to GMG (TMG). Second, we subdivided the p-OMG patients according to the time of approval of TAC into the Before group and the After group. We compared the dosage and period of prednisolone administration (PSL) of the 2 groups. Third, we evaluated the responses to OMG treatment using the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America Postintervention Status (MGFA-PS) scale. RESULTS: Forty-one patients were classified into the p-OMG group, and 11, into the TMG group. The AChRAb level (P = 0.0006) and prevalence of thymoma (P = 0.001) were significantly higher in the TMG group than in the p-OMG group. In the p-OMG group, the MG composite score (P ≤ 0.0001) and AChRAb level (P = 0.005) improved after treatment. The periods of PSL administration at ≥ 20 mg/day (P = 0.009) and at 10 to 19 mg/day (P = 0.002) were significantly shorter in the After group. At the last follow-up, 78.0% of the p-OMG group patients had achieved MGFA-PS minimal manifestations or better status with PSL ≤ 5 mg/day. CONCLUSIONS: The TMG cases were characterized by higher AChRAb levels and presence of thymoma. The P-OMG patients could be managed with our treatment protocol. Combined use of TAC was efficacious in patients with steroid-dependent p-OMG.

Changes in ocular higher-order aberrations following botulinum toxin treatment in patients with blepharospasm : BTX improves dry eye in patients with BEB.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To evaluate the effects of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) treatment in patients with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) by monitoring the ocular surface and ocular higher-order aberrations (HOAs) before and after treatment. METHODS: The present study reports a prospective case series of 38 patients (76 eyes, 11 men and 27 women; mean age 66.8 ± 9.8 years) with BEB who underwent BTX-A treatment at Kokura Memorial Hospital between 2013 and 2014. Patients were evaluated for ophthalmoscopic findings, Schirmer I test, tear film break-up time (t-BUT), HOAs, fluctuation index (FI), stability index (SI) using a wavefront aberrometer, 15 subjective symptoms using the Dry Eye-Related Quality of Life Score (DEQS), and complications before and after the treatment. RESULTS: After BTX-A treatment, the Schirmer I test score improved significantly from 5.9 ± 5.4 to 8.7 ± 6.1 mm and t-BUT recovered from 5.2 ± 1.7 to 7.3 ± 1.7 s. HOAs were classified into four patterns: stable (60.5 %), small fluctuation (14.5 %), sawtooth (17.1 %), and reverse sawtooth (7.9 %), and they significantly reduced after the treatment. Only FI (not SI) showed a marked reduction, and the DEQS significantly improved from 44.7 ± 21.6 to 37.6 ± 21.0 after the treatment (p < 0.05). There were no complications during the observations. CONCLUSION: BTX-A is a treatment with a high potential to improve ocular surface disorders induced by BEB.

[Case of fungal endophthalmitis developed after subtenon injections of triamcinolone acetonide].

BACKGROUND: We report a case of fungal endophthalmitis which developed after subtenon injections of triamcinolone acetonide (TA). CASE: A 63-year-old man had Graves' ophthalmopathy. He had received subtenon injections of TA in his left eye. He was admitted to Kimura Eye & Internal Medicine Hospital because of a subconjunctival abscess with inflammatory cells in the anterior chamber. Although we treated it as a suspected bacterial infection at the first visit, it deteriorated rapidly. Because prolonged antibiotics and antifungal therapy seemed ineffective, we performed diagnostic surgery. The lower sclera around the subtenon injections of TA was hard and thick, and a white spotty lesion and retinal detachment were seen on the lower retina. A culture of the Tenon sac showed filamentous fungus. After the surgery the subconjunctival abscess recurred because intravenous antifungal therapy had been discontinued. A culture of the abscess identified Alternaria sp. The subconjunctival abscess, thickened sclera, and retinal exudate were limited to the region of the sub-Tenon injection of TA, We conclude that the sclera had been permeated by hyphae of Alternaria sp. CONCLUSION: In this case, critical infection was caused by the sub-Tenon injections of TA.