Influence of the cannulated vitrectomy system on the occurrence of iatrogenic sclerotomy retinal tears.

PURPOSE: To determine whether the use of the cannulated vitrectomy system decreases the incidence of sclerotomy-related retinal tears relative to traditional vitrectomy techniques. METHODS: Forty-one eyes of 77 patients in this study were randomly selected to undergo treatment with the cannulated port system. RESULTS: We demonstrated a statistically significant decreased incidence of sclerotomy tears in the cannulated group relative to the noncannulated group (1% vs. 7.7%, P < 0.05). The benefit of the cannulated port system appears to be greatest in cases in which an inexperienced surgeon is learning the techniques of vitreoretinal surgery, in eyes with a preoperative diagnosis of tractional diabetic detachment, and in surgery requiring membrane delamination (simple and extensive). CONCLUSION: The three-port vitrectomy system decreases the incidence of sclerotomy-related retinal tears.

Pseudohypopyon in unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy.

Unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy (UAIM) is a recently described condition in young adults consisting of rapidly progressive central visual loss, gray-white opacification of the outer retina, and serous detachment of the macula. Bull's eye pattern pigmentary changes may occur in the macula after resolution of the acute phase of the disease. A case of UAIM in which a shifting of subretinal inflammatory infiltrate was observed is reported. This is the tenth reported case of UAIM, and represents a variation in the clinical presentation of this disease. The appearance and the shifting of the subretinal infiltrate seen in this patient support an inflammatory etiology of UAIM.

Primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve simulating a melanocytoma.

Primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve head is an extremely rare tumor. We describe a patient with a pigmented optic nerve lesion that simulated a growing melanocytoma. The pigmented tumor slowly infiltrated the optic nerve causing disc edema, retinal venous congestion, progressive visual field loss, and eventually, loss of central acuity. Following enucleation of the eye, and later resections of the optic nerve to the chiasm, histopathologic examination of the optic nerve, disc, and peripapillary region demonstrated a primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve without choroidal involvement. Involvement of the optic nerve extended 26 mm beyond the lamina cribrosa. Malignant melanoma of the optic nerve is a real entity and may clinically simulate a melanocytoma.

Clinical parameters predictive of enlargement of melanocytic choroidal lesions.

The authors followed up 197 melanotic choroidal lesions (62 categorised as benign naevi, 76 classified as suspicious naevi, 41 diagnosed as dormant melanomas, and 18 categorised as active melanomas) left untreated after their initial clinical documentation. Thirty-nine of these lesions enlarged during a five-year follow-up interval (cumulative proportion of lesions that enlarged = 26.2% by Kaplan-Meier method). Individual clinical parameters predictive of lesion enlargement (p less than 0.01) included larger size of the lesion, especially lesion thickness, presence of retinal detachment, location of the lesion's posterior margin within 2 disc diameters of the optic disc, presence of symptoms, and presence of orange pigment clumps on the lesion's surface. The best combination of these parameters for prediction of lesion enlargement, as identified by multivariate Cox regression analysis, consisted of thickness of the lesion, retinal detachment, and symptoms. The five-year incidence of lesion enlargement for patients with none of these prognostic parameters was 5.8%, while that for patients with all three unfavourable parameters simultaneously was 90.6%.

Natural course of melanocytic tumors of the iris.

The authors received the charts and photographs of 175 patients who had suspicious melanocytic lesions of the iris and who were followed without treatment. Only eight (4.6%) of these lesions showed clinical evidence of enlargement during follow-up intervals of 1 to 12 years (mean, 4.7 years). Features that were associated with enlargement of the lesion included medial location of the mass on the iris and presence of pigment dispersion onto the adjacent iris and anterior chamber angle structures. Features that were unassociated with growth of the lesion included patient age and sex, intraocular pressure, iris color, tumor size and vascularity, and presence of pupillary distortion, ectropion iridis, and sector cataract. From these results, recommendations are made which can assist the ophthalmologist in the management of pigmented iris lesions.

Enlargement of melanocytic iris lesions.

We evaluated the natural history of 175 melanocytic lesions (nevus or melanoma) of the iris which were managed initially by observation without surgical intervention. Only eight of the 175 lesions (4.6%) enlarged during a median follow-up interval of 3.9 years. Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that tumor location in the medical portion of the iris (P = 0.047) and pigment dispersion from the lesion onto the adjacent iris and trabecular meshwork (P = 0.056) were the only significant clinical conditions predictive of tumor enlargement. Based on these findings, we recommend conservative management of most melanocytic lesions of the iris.