Gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy using an illuminated catheter for infantile primary congenital glaucoma. Case series.

PURPOSE: To describe our experience of Gonioscopy-Assisted Transluminal Trabeculotomy (GATT) in four eyes with infantile primary congenital glaucoma (PCG). OBSERVATIONS: We report the first two GATT procedures performed in six-month-old infants with PCG. We also report the same procedure in two eyes of a two-year-old boy with PCG who had previous goniotomies with subsequent peripheral anterior synechiae formation. In all four eyes, the IOP remained under 20 mmHg at years three and four postoperatively, without glaucoma medication or conjunctival surgery. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPORTANCE: Our cases confirm that GATT is an alternative to traditional ab externo glaucoma surgery in PCG and can be successfully performed within the first months of life, or in infants with failed or partially functioning goniotomies, avoiding the need for invasive conjunctival or scleral surgery.

Giant coronary aneurysms producing chest pain.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) are defined as localized coronary artery dilations more than 1.5 times the diameter of the adjacent segments [1]. Giant coronary aneurysms (GCAA) are unusual and aneurysms on the left side are even rarer. Mechanisms are unclear, but seem predominated by atherosclerosis. Until now, management of giant coronary aneurysm is still unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: A 62-year-old man, presented a 4-month history of progressive chest pain aggravated by physical CAAs: 3 on the right coronary artery (RCA), including a giant one, and one on the intermediate branch. Intraoperatively, we found two proximal RCA CAAs of 2 cm each, a 6 cm distal RCA CAA partially thrombosed, and a 3 cm CAA on the intermediate branch. The two largest CAAs were resected and two saphenous graft bypasses were performed. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment options include medical treatment (antiaggregation, anticoagulation), percutaneous coronary angioplasty and surgery. Results of observational or conservative management in the few cases of GCAA described in literature, appear to have poor results. Surgery is a good option with low operative risk, especially in giant coronary aneurysms.

Macular Choroidal Thickening in Keratoconus Patients: Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography Study.

PURPOSE: To determine the choroidal thickness (CT) profile in keratoconus (KC) patients using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). METHODS: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study. One hundred two eyes of 52 KC patients were studied using Pentacam and SS-OCT. The macular CT profile was created by manually measuring the distance between the retinal pigment epithelium and the choroid-sclera junction on horizontal b-scans at nine different macular locations. The results were compared to 93 eyes of 93 healthy controls. RESULTS: Mean age of the KC group was 34.9 ± 13.5 years and mean axial length (AL) was 24.1 ± 1.3 mm. Mean topographic KC classification (TKC) was 2.0; 39 eyes were classified as early KC (TKC <1-2), 34 eyes as moderate (TKC 2, 2-3), and 29 as advanced (TKC 3+). Mean subfoveal CT was 383.2 µm in KC patients and 280.5 µm in control group (P < 0.001). CT in KC patients was statistically thicker in all measure locations (P < 0.001). CT in KC eyes decreased with age, approaching control group at >45 years old, losing statistical significance (P = 0.37). CONCLUSIONS: CT in KC patients is statistically thicker than in healthy population. After age 45, CT decreases approaching control group values. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: This study describes changes in the CT profile of KC patients, a disease that was considered purely corneal. These choroidal changes argue that KC is a disease that likely involves several ocular structures other than the cornea, and could open new research lines related to the pathophysiology of KC.

Bilateral deep brain stimulation: the placement of the second electrode is not necessarily less accurate than that of the first one.

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is recognized as an effective treatment for movement disorders. We recently changed our technique, limiting the number of brain penetrations to three per side. OBJECTIVES: The first aim was to evaluate the electrode precision on both sides of surgery since we implemented this surgical technique. The second aim was to analyse whether or not the electrode placement was improved with microrecording and macrostimulation. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed operation protocols and MRIs of 30 patients who underwent bilateral DBS. For microrecording and macrostimulation, we used three parallel channels of the 'Ben Gun' centred on the MRI-planned target. Pre- and post-operative MRIs were merged. The distance between the planned target and the centre of the implanted electrode artefact was measured. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in targeting precision on both sides of surgery. There was more intra-operative adjustment of the second electrode positioning based on microrecording and macrostimulation, which allowed to significantly approach the MRI-planned target on the medial-lateral axis. CONCLUSION: There was more electrode adjustment needed on the second side, possibly in relation with brain shift. We thus suggest performing a single central track with electrophysiological and clinical assessment, with multidirectional exploration on demand for suboptimal clinical responses.

Doublecortin-positive cells in the adult primate cerebral cortex and possible role in brain plasticity and development.

We have demonstrated that cortical cell autografts might be a useful therapy in two monkey models of neurological disease: motor cortex lesion and Parkinson's disease. However, the origin of the useful transplanted cells obtained from cortical biopsies is not clear. In this report we describe the expression of doublecortin (DCX) in these cells based on reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunodetection in the adult primate cortex and cell cultures. The results showed that DCX-positive cells were present in the whole primate cerebral cortex and also expressed glial and/or neuronal markers such as glial fibrillary protein (GFAP) or neuronal nuclei (NeuN). We also demonstrated that only DCX/GFAP positive cells were able to proliferate and originate progenitor cells in vitro. We hypothesize that these DCX-positive cells in vivo have a role in cortical plasticity and brain reaction to injury. Moreover, in vitro these DCX-positive cells have the potential to reacquire progenitor characteristics that confirm their potential for brain repair.