ABSTRACT
This study examines the morphological and histochemical changes in the cortical vitreous of 36 rabbit eyes following C3F8 intravitreal gas injection. Eyes were examined by light microscopy (LM) using a modified cryofixation and cryosectioning technique that prevented the loss of soluble tissue moieties and permitted collagen and proteoglycan histochemistry as well as enzyme digestion with hyaluronidase. LM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of cryosectioned normal eyes revealed an elaborate fibrillar matrix extending 100-190 microns from the basal lamina of the retina into the vitreous proper, which seemed to be composed of collagen fibrils intimately associated or wrapped in proteoglycan. Following the full expansion of the C3F8 gas bubble in the vitreous, the cortical fibrillar meshwork was absent from the retinal surface and a dense, collagenous material accumulated in the anterior vitreous, especially between the ciliary processes and over the posterior face of the lens. At 41 days postinjection, the fibrillar matrix was reforming and the vitreal cavity was filled with fluid and numerous fibrillar-mucinous islands. These islands did not form sheets or membranes, nor did they attach to either the posterior or the anterior retinal surface. The cortical fibrillar meshwork had reformed at 61 days' recovery; however, the condensed fibrillar material against the lens and filling the spaces between the ciliary processes had not resorbed. Neither shearing of the cortical gel or fibrillar matrix nor congestion of the anterior vitreous was observed in eyes only partially filled with gas.
Subject(s)
Fluorocarbons/pharmacology , Vitreous Body/drug effects , Animals , Collagen/ultrastructure , Cryopreservation/methods , Extracellular Matrix/ultrastructure , Histocytochemistry , Hyaluronoglucosaminidase , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Proteoglycans/ultrastructure , Rabbits , Retina/drug effects , Retina/ultrastructure , Vitreous Body/ultrastructureABSTRACT
On routine examination, asymptomatic patients from the Marshall Islands were noted to have large optic disks associated with high cup/disk ratios and normal intraocular pressure. We retrospectively analyzed color fundus photographs of 54 eyes and 22 eyes of 15 patients had optic disks greater than 2.10 mm, or megalopapilla. Of 36 patients with cup/disk ratios exceeding 0.6, 31 (86%) had visual acuities of better than or equal to 20/30. The optic nerve rim and disk areas varied directly as did disk and cup diameters. Three large disks with an 18-year photographic follow-up showed no change. Optic disk characteristics can vary widely among genetically isolated populations.
Subject(s)
Optic Disk/anatomy & histology , Adult , Aged , Female , Fundus Oculi , Glaucoma/pathology , Humans , Male , Micronesia , Middle Aged , Optic Disk/radiation effects , Photography , Reference Values , Retrospective Studies , Visual AcuityABSTRACT
A 33-year-old Hispanic man developed sympathetic ophthalmia 4.5 months after vitrectomy and repeat scleral buckling for a giant retinal tear in an aphakic previously traumatized eye. The patient had gray-white, subretinal nodules with characteristic changes of sympathetic uveitis detected by fluorescein angiography. The fluorescein angiographic and clinical findings revealed a dramatic response to steroid treatment: visual acuity returned to the previous 20/20 level within 5 weeks of therapy.
Subject(s)
Ophthalmia, Sympathetic/etiology , Retinal Perforations/complications , Adult , Fluorescein Angiography , Humans , Laser Therapy , Male , Ophthalmia, Sympathetic/drug therapy , Prednisone/therapeutic use , Retinal Perforations/surgery , Scleral Buckling , Time Factors , Visual Acuity , VitrectomyABSTRACT
We report an unusual case of intraocular myeloma that presented with signs and symptoms of endophthalmitis. The ocular findings in this case were the earliest indication of systemic myeloma associated with amyloidosis. Electrophoresis of the vitreous aspirate showed a monoclonal spike.
Subject(s)
Endophthalmitis/complications , Eye Neoplasms/pathology , Multiple Myeloma/complications , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Blindness/complications , Endophthalmitis/pathology , Eye/pathology , Eye Neoplasms/surgery , Female , Glaucoma, Open-Angle/complications , Humans , Multiple Myeloma/diagnosis , Multiple Myeloma/pathology , Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Perfluoropropane (C3F8), an expanding fluorinated hydrocarbon gas, was used as an adjunct to vitreous surgery in the management of 18 patients with retinal detachment complicated by proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Ten patients had reattached retinas six months after disappearance of the gas. The average intraocular longevity of the gas in successful cases was 92 days; that in failed cases was 62.7 days. This difference was not statistically significant. However, internal retinal tamponade by longer-lasting gases appears to increase the rate of retinal reattachment in the surgical management of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
Subject(s)
Gases , Hydrocarbons, Fluorinated/therapeutic use , Retinal Detachment/surgery , Retinal Diseases/therapy , Vitreous Body , Eye Diseases/complications , Eye Diseases/therapy , Humans , Intraocular Pressure , Retinal Detachment/complications , Retinal Diseases/complications , Retinal Perforations/surgery , Scleral Buckling , Visual Acuity , VitrectomyABSTRACT
The disappearance rates of bubbles from the vitreous of rabbits were measured for four perfluorocarbon gases. The decay rate for each was found to be exponential and thus independent of the volume injected. Clinical observations indicated that the disappearance of the perfluorocarbon gases in patients also follows exponential decay, but that the half-lives are three to five times longer than in rabbits.