Comparison of topical ciprofloxacin to conventional antibiotic therapy in the treatment of ulcerative keratitis.

We evaluated the efficacy of ciprofloxacin (3 mg/ml) as the sole topical antibiotic used to treat infectious keratitis in 14 patients. We compared the ciprofloxacin-treated group to a retrospective control group of 30 consecutive culture-positive patients treated with conventional therapy in which cefazolin (50 mg/ml) and fortified gentamicin sulfate (9.1 mg/ml) solutions were used. We found no remarkable difference between the control group and the ciprofloxacin-treated group regarding patient age, risk factors, need for hospitalization, and virulence of organism isolated. The average time to healing in culture-positive ciprofloxacin-treated patients was 34 +/- 33 days vs 45 +/- 71 days in the control group and this difference was not statistically significant. The duration of antibiotic therapy in the culture-positive ciprofloxacin-treated group was 27 +/- 15 days vs 33 +/- 50 days in the control group. Four of the 30 control patients required modification of their antibiotic regimen, whereas no ciprofloxacin-treated patient required a change. Ciprofloxacin appears to be an effective single agent in the treatment of ulcerative keratitis.

Confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope. Reproducibility of optic nerve head topographic measurements with the confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope.

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy in which changes in the appearance of both the optic nerve head and the surrounding tissues are important in both diagnosing its presence and progression. Accurate methods to objectively document the appearance of the optic nerve are necessary. The confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope (Zeiss) is a new prototype instrument that may have the capability to accurately perform this function. METHODS: The authors performed a prospective pilot study evaluating the ability of the confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope to reproduce three-dimensional optic nerve images. Each retinal image contained 600,000 bytes of information. Thirty discrete images of the right optic nerves of 19 visually normal volunteers were obtained. Depth measurements were compared from the same 100 x 100 micron areas (neighborhoods). RESULTS: Image comparisons found the variability of depth measurements for the entire image were within 102 microns (95% confidence interval). Sixty percent of the depth measurements were reproducible within 100 microns. Variability of the depth measurements was greatest where the neuroretinal rim sloped at the edge of the optic cup and lowest in the peripapillary area. CONCLUSION: The confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope has the potential to be a safe, rapid, and reproducible method of imaging ocular structures.

Prostatic cryptococcosis in acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

A rare care is presented of recurrent dysuria and urinary obstruction due to cryptococcal prostatitis in a thirty-six-year-old male with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Although there are a handful of reports in the world literature of patients with cryptococcal prostatitis, this appears to be the first case reported related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.