Treatment Outcomes in Birdshot Chorioretinitis: Corticosteroid Sparing, Corticosteroid Discontinuation, Remission, and Relapse.

PURPOSE: To describe treatment-related outcomes among patients with birdshot chorioretinitis (BSCR). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Patients diagnosed with BSCR at 2 tertiary care academic medical centers. METHODS: Clinical and treatment-related data were collected for all patients with BSCR diagnosed between 2003 and 2017 at the 2 centers and for each eye at each clinical visit. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Four outcomes were considered: (1) corticosteroid-sparing success, defined as inactive disease and prednisone dose of ≤7.5 mg/day; (2) corticosteroid-discontinuation success, defined as inactive disease and discontinuation of prednisone; (3) sustained drug-free remission, defined as inactive disease off all medications for ≥3 months; and (4) relapse of BSCR after remission. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients with BSCR were identified, of whom 94 had follow-up data. Corticosteroid-sparing success was achieved in 95.4% of the oral corticosteroid-treated patients at a rate of 0.60 successes per person-year (PY) (95% CI: 0.50/PY, 0.70/PY). The median time to corticosteroid-sparing success was 12 months. Corticosteroids were discontinued successfully in 76.5% of oral corticosteroid-treated patients (rate = 0.28/PY; 95% CI: 0.21/PY, 0.35/PY). The median time to successful corticosteroid discontinuation was 2.0 years. A sustained drug-free remission was achieved in 24 patients (rate = 0.06/PY; 95% CI: 0.04/PY, 0.09/PY), with approximately 25% of patients achieving remission by 4 years of follow-up. Relapse of inflammation in patients after achieving a sustained, drug-free remission occurred at a rate of 0.24/PY (95% CI: 0.14/PY, 0.37/PY). CONCLUSIONS: Successful corticosteroid sparing and discontinuation was achieved in the majority of patients with BSCR. Remission occurred less often, but data were limited by the time needed to induce a remission (4 years) and the amount of follow-up (median, 4.6 years). The relapse rate after a remission was 0.24/PY.

A case of recurrent hypotony and choroidal effusion in a patient with previous filtration surgery.

To report a case of recurrent hypotony and choroidal effusion following trabeculectomy. OBSERVATIONS: A 70 year old male with advanced pseudoexfoliation glaucoma in both eyes underwent trabeculectomy in the left eye. Initially intraocular pressure (IOP) was controlled without topical therapy, but dorzolamide-timolol and brimonidine were added when IOP elevated above target. Aqueous suppressant glaucoma medications were thought to cause three episodes of hypotony resolving with discontinuation of these medications. Conclusions and Importance: Although hypotony and choroidal detachment associated with the use of aqueous suppressants is rare, it should be considered in patients with hypotony of unclear etiology following a glaucoma filtering procedure. Aqueous suppressants should be discontinued and it is recommended that the glaucoma drop regimen be switched to non-aqueous suppressants in patients with these findings.

Use of noncontrast computed tomography of the inferior vena cava for real-time imaging guidance for the placement of inferior vena cava filters.

Appropriate placement of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter necessitates imaging of the renal veins because when an IVC filter is deployed its tip should be at or below the inferior aspect of the inferiormost renal vein. Traditionally, imaging during placement of IVC filters has been with conventional cavography and fluoroscopy. Recently, intravascular ultrasound has been used for the same purpose but with additional expense. Morbidly obese patients often exceed the weight limit of fluoroscopy tables. In addition, short obese patients are at risk of falling from narrow fluoroscopy tables. For such patients, computed tomography (CT) guidance is a viable alternative to conventional fluoroscopic guidance. IVC placement was performed in the CT suite for two obese patients who exceeded the weight limits of the available fluoroscopy tables. In one case, a Vena-Tech filter (Braun Medical, Melsungen, Germany) was placed using CT fluoroscopy. In the second case, a Recovery (Bard, Murray Hill, NJ) filter was placed using intermittent limited z-axis scanning. In the first case, the filter was placed below the level of the renal veins and above the confluence of the iliac veins, which is acceptable placement. In the second case, with refinement of technique, the filter tip was placed less than 1 cm below the inferiormost renal vein, which is considered optimal placement. CT of the IVC precisely images the renal veins and can characterize their number and their confluence with the IVC. CT guidance is a viable alternative to fluoroscopic guidance for the placement of IVC filters in morbidly obese patients.

A potential role of ECG-gated CT for the diagnosis of pulmonary vein thrombus: an illustrative case report.

The presence of tumor thrombus in patients with lung cancer confers a risk of stroke and other end-organ ischemic events. This case highlights a potential role for electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of this pathologic process. In this case, pulmonary vein thrombus was definitively identified by an ECG-CT following discordant results between CT and transthoracic echocardiogram. In addition, this case demonstrates how management decisions are affected by physician accessibility to and familiarity with specific imaging tests.

Infant head growth in male siblings of children with and without autism spectrum disorders.

PURPOSE: Previous research has indicated that children with autism exhibit accelerated head growth (HG) in infancy, although the timing of acceleration varies between studies. We examined infant HG trajectory as a candidate autism endophenotype by studying sibling pairs. METHODS: We retrospectively obtained serial head orbitofrontal circumference measurements of: a) 48 sibling pairs in which one (n=28) or both (n=20) sibs were affected by an autism spectrum disorder (ASD); and b) 85 control male sibling pairs. RESULTS: Rate of HG of ASD subjects was slightly accelerated compared to controls, but the magnitude of difference was below the limit of reliability of standard measurement methods. Sibling intra class correlation for rate of HG was highly statistically significant; the magnitude was significantly stronger among autism-affected families (ICC=.63) than among controls (ICC=.26), p<.01. CONCLUSION: Infant HG trajectory appears familial-possibly endophenotypic-but was not a reliable marker of autism risk among siblings of ASD probands in this sample.