Comparative outcome analysis of bleb needling of fibrotic blebs in the clinic versus the operating room: a retrospective case series.

BACKGROUND: To compare 6 month outcomes of bleb needling performed in the clinic vs. the operating room (OR) in adult glaucoma patients with failed bleb. METHODS: A retrospective case series of 47 eyes from 41 glaucoma patients who received needling with mitomycin C (MMC) of scarred bleb from prior bleb-forming procedures in clinic (32 eyes) vs. the OR (15 eyes), including trabeculectomy (14 eyes), ExPress shunt (16 eyes), and ab-interno XEN gel stent (17 eyes). The primary outcome was needling success, defined as IOP ≤ 18 mmHg on 0 glaucoma medications without requiring an additional IOP lowering procedure within 6 months after needling. RESULTS: At 6 months, bleb needling success rate was similar when performed in the clinic vs. in the OR (28% vs. 20%, P = 0.54). Success rate was not statistically different in patients with prior trabeculectomy, ExPress shunt, and XEN gel stent (29% vs. 38% vs. 12%, P = 0.26). When comparing clinic vs. the OR needling procedures at 6 months, there was no difference in mean IOP (14.2 vs. 14.9 mmHg, P = 0.73), mean glaucoma medications (1.4 vs. 1.7, P = 0.69), additional IOP-lowering procedure rate (16% vs. 27%, P = 0.37), or complication rate (0% vs. 7%, P = 0.32). CONCLUSION: Bleb needling with MMC in clinic may be a safe and effective way to revise failed bleb after trabeculectomy, ExPress shunt, and XEN gel stent procedures when compared to needling in the OR.

Predictive Factors for Outcomes of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty.

We sought to  determine predictive factors for selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) outcome. 252 eyes from 198 adult patients with open-angle glaucoma who underwent SLT between July 2016 and February 2018 with a minimum 6 month follow up were reviewed. We defined success as ≥20% IOP reduction or ≥1 medication reduction without an IOP lowering procedure. We also evaluated the relationship of these factors to postoperative IOP elevation >5 mmHg (IOP spikes). Our primary outcome measure was association between age, type and severity of glaucoma, pigmentation of the trabecular meshwork (PTM), total energy delivered, and baseline intraocular pressure (IOP) with success. At 2 and 6 months, 33.6% (76/226) and 38.5% (97/252) of eyes met success criteria respectively. Baseline IOP > 18 mmHg was significantly associated with success both at 2 and 6 months, reducing IOP by 5.4 ± 5.3 mmHg (23.7% reduction), whereas those with lower baseline remained at -0.7 ± 4.6 mmHg (4.9% increase) at 6 months (P < 0.001). No other baseline characteristics significantly predicted success or IOP spikes. Patients with higher baseline IOPs had greater success rates and mean IOP reduction at both 2 and 6 months following SLT. Age, type and severity of glaucoma, PTM, or total energy delivery had no association with procedural success or IOP spikes. Patients with higher baseline IOP may experience greater lowering of IOP after SLT. However, SLT may be equally successful for patients with a variety of other characteristics.

The Effect of Propofol vs. Isoflurane Anesthesia on Postoperative Changes in Cerebrospinal Fluid Cytokine Levels: Results from a Randomized Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Aside from direct effects on neurotransmission, inhaled and intravenous anesthetics have immunomodulatory properties. In vitro and mouse model studies suggest that propofol inhibits, while isoflurane increases, neuroinflammation. If these findings translate to humans, they could be clinically important since neuroinflammation has detrimental effects on neurocognitive function in numerous disease states. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To examine whether propofol and isoflurane differentially modulate neuroinflammation in humans, cytokines were measured in a secondary analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients prospectively randomized to receive anesthetic maintenance with propofol vs. isoflurane (registered with http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT01640275). We measured CSF levels of EGF, eotaxin, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-α2, IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1ß, and TNF-α before and 24 h after intracranial surgery in these study patients. RESULTS: After Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, we found significant increases from before to 24 h after surgery in G-CSF, IL-10, IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1ß, and TNF-α. However, we found no difference in cytokine levels at baseline or 24 h after surgery between propofol- (n = 19) and isoflurane-treated (n = 21) patients (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). Increases in CSF IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, and MCP-1 levels directly correlated with each other and with postoperative CSF elevations in tau, a neural injury biomarker. We observed CSF cytokine increases up to 10-fold higher after intracranial surgery than previously reported after other types of surgery. DISCUSSION: These data clarify the magnitude of neuroinflammation after intracranial surgery, and raise the possibility that a coordinated neuroinflammatory response may play a role in neural injury after surgery.

The Effect of Propofol Versus Isoflurane Anesthesia on Human Cerebrospinal Fluid Markers of Alzheimer's Disease: Results of a Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Preclinical studies have found differential effects of isoflurane and propofol on the Alzheimer's disease (AD)-associated markers tau, phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and amyloid-ß (Aß). OBJECTIVE: We asked whether isoflurane and propofol have differential effects on the tau/Aß ratio (the primary outcome), and individual AD biomarkers. We also examined whether genetic/intraoperative factors influenced perioperative changes in AD biomarkers. METHODS: Patients undergoing neurosurgical/otolaryngology procedures requiring lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drain placement were prospectively randomized to receive isoflurane (n = 21) or propofol (n = 18) for anesthetic maintenance. We measured perioperative CSF sample AD markers, performed genotyping assays, and examined intraoperative data from the electronic anesthesia record. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine changes in AD markers by anesthetic type over time. RESULTS: The CSF tau/Aß ratio did not differ between isoflurane- versus propofol-treated patients (p = 1.000). CSF tau/Aß ratio and tau levels increased 10 and 24 h after drain placement (p = 2.002×10-6 and p = 1.985×10-6, respectively), mean CSF p-tau levels decreased (p = 0.005), and Aß levels did not change (p = 0.152). There was no interaction between anesthetic treatment and time for any of these biomarkers. None of the examined genetic polymorphisms, including ApoE4, were associated with tau increase (n = 9 polymorphisms, p > 0.05 for all associations). CONCLUSION: Neurosurgery/otolaryngology procedures are associated with an increase in the CSF tau/Aß ratio, and this increase was not influenced by anesthetic type. The increased CSF tau/Aß ratio was largely driven by increases in tau levels. Future work should determine the functional/prognostic significance of these perioperative CSF tau elevations.

Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction: Minding the Gaps in Our Knowledge of a Common Postoperative Complication in the Elderly.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common complication associated with significant morbidity and mortality in elderly patients. There is much interest in and controversy about POCD, reflected partly in the increasing number of articles published on POCD recently. Recent work suggests surgery may also be associated with cognitive improvement in some patients, termed postoperative cognitive improvement (POCI). As the number of surgeries performed worldwide approaches 250 million per year, optimizing postoperative cognitive function and preventing/treating POCD are major public health issues. In this article, we review the literature on POCD and POCI, and discuss current research challenges in this area.

Computational model for predicting experimental RNA and DNA nearest-neighbor free energy rankings.

Hydrogen-bonding, intrastrand base-stacking, and interstrand base-stacking energies were calculated for RNA and DNA dimers at the MP2(full)/6-311G** level of theory. Standard A-form RNA and B-form DNA geometries from average fiber diffraction data were employed for all base monomer and dimer geometries, and all dimer binding energies were obtained via single-point calculations. The effects of water solvation were considered using the PCM model. The resulting dimer binding energies were used to calculate the 10 unique RNA and 10 unique DNA computational nearest-neighbor energies, and the ranking of these computational nearest neighbor energies are in excellent agreement with the ranking of the experimental nearest-neighbor free energies. These results dispel the notion that average fiber diffraction geometries are insufficient for calculating RNA and DNA stacking energies.