Objective evaluation of corneal and lens densitometry in children with Down syndrome.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to compare anterior segment topographic measurements and densitometry measurements of the cornea and lens of patients with Down syndrome (DS) with those of healthy individuals. METHODS: Forty patients with DS (study group) and 43 healthy subjects (control group) were enrolled in this prospective study. Topographic measurements, including central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal volume (CV), anterior chamber depth, corneal densitometry (CD) and lens densitometry (LD) values, of the right eye of each participant were obtained. RESULTS: The CCT and CV values were significantly lower in the study group compared to those in the control group. The mean LD-horizontal, LD-vertical, LD-areal, three dimensional (3D), peak and CD values were higher in the patients with DS (5.90±0.7, 6.01±0.7, 5.61±0.54, 9.70±2.1, 20.94±7.53 and 15.61±1.34, respectively) than in the healthy control subjects (5.72±0.65, 5.83±0.60, 5.56±0.75, 8.63±1.83, 17.29±5.40 and 14.3±1.03, respectively) (LD-horizontal P=0.144, LD-vertical P=0.184, LD-areal P=0.743, 3D P=0.033, peak P=0.029 and CD P=0.001). CONCLUSION: The DS patients had higher CD and LD values. Additionally, the mean CCT and CV values in the DS group were less than those in the control group.

Aqueous humor pentraxin-3 levels in patients with diabetes mellitus.

PurposeTo evaluate aqueous humor (AH) pentraxin-3 (PTX3) levels in diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy (DR).MethodsIn this prospective study, patients undergoing cataract surgery were enrolled. The study group was composed of 26 type-2 diabetic patients without DR (group 1), 32 diabetic patients with DR (group 2) and 29 age-matched subjects without any systemic disease (group 3). Fifteen proliferative DR (PDR) and 17 non-proliferative DR (NPDR) patients were enrolled in Group 2. HbA1c levels and duration of diabetes were noted. AH samples were obtained from anterior chamber at the beginning of cataract surgery and PTX3 levels were analyzed with Elisa kit.ResultsBaseline demographic characteristics were similar between groups. The mean duration of diabetes was 11.9±7.9 years in group 1 and 15.8±7.8 years in group 2 (P=0.11). The mean plasma HbA1c levels in group 1 was 9.1±2.6 and 8.2±2.4 in group 2 (P=0.36). PTX3 levels were 5.75±0.41 in group 1, 6.11±1.47 in group 2 and 4.93±0.84 ng/ml in group 3 (P=0.01). PTX3 levels in group 2 were higher than in group 1 and 3 (P=0.06 and P=0.01, respectively). There was no correlation between HbA1c and PTX3 levels (P=0.06 r=0.57, P=0.19 r=0.3, respectively). The mean PTX3 was 6.6±0.3 in PDR group and 5.6±0.5 ng/ml in NPDR group (P=0.04).ConclusionsPTX3 is an important marker especially for vascular endothelial damage. Since diabetic vascular changes are dependent on endothelial cell damage, high levels of AH PTX3 of DR patients may indicate the importance of PTX3 protein in the pathogenesis of DR.

Which tonometry in eyes with keratoconus?

AIMS: To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements obtained with Goldmann applanation tonometery (GAT), dynamic contour tonometry (DCT), tonopen (TP), and ocular response analyzer (ORA), and to determine the influence of Amsler grade and central corneal thickness (CCT) on the IOP readings in eyes with keratoconus that are classified into four groups according to the Amsler-Krumeich classification. METHODS: All eyes with keratoconus were separated into four groups using Amsler-Krumeich classification for keratoconus. IOP was measured in 202 eyes of 202 patients with keratoconus using GAT, DCT, TP, and ORA. RESULTS: The IOP differences revealed no significant difference among the Amsler degree in the DCT and corneal-compensated IOP (IOPcc) measurements (P>0.05 for all). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of IOP differences between GAT and IOPcc (P>0.05), TP and Goldmann-correlated measure of IOP (IOPg; P>0.05) in the Amsler I, while the IOP measurements revealed significant difference among the measurements of the four different tonometers in the Amsler II, Amsler III, and Amsler IV (P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant association between DCT IOP or IOPcc and CCT in eyes with keratoconus; no statistically significant difference was found between keratoconus stages and the control group in terms of the IOP analyzed with these two techniques. These two techniques may be the most stable in the measurement of IOP in different keratoconus stages. However, no IOP technique can be used interchangeably with other techniques in the follow-up of keratoconus patients.

The biomechanical properties of the cornea in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

UNLABELLED: PUPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the biomechanical properties of the cornea and intraocular pressure (IOP) between patients with systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) and age-matched controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, 30 healthy individuals (control group) and 30 patients with SLE (study group) underwent Reichert ocular response analyzer (ORA) measurements. In the right eye of each participant, the corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), and Goldman-related IOP (IOPg) were recorded using the ORA. RESULTS: Mean CH, CRF, IOPg were significantly different between groups. Mean CH was 10.2 ± 0.6 mm Hg in the study group and 11.3 ± 1.3 in the control group (P=0.02); mean CRF was 9.7 ± 1.1 mm Hg and 11.9 ± 1.5 mm Hg, respectively (P=0.001). Mean IOP(g) was 13.9 ± 2.9 mm Hg in the study group and 16.9 ± 2.6 mm Hg in the control group (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: The biomechanical properties of the cornea are altered in patients with SLE compared with normal controls. These findings should be taken into account when measuring IOP values in patients with SLE as IOP readings may be underestimated in SLE eyes.