[Viral hepatitis B as a factor in the etiology of cataracts in adults and children]. / Virusnyi gepatit B kak faktor formirovaniia katarakt u vzroslykh i detei.

Vacuoles, aqueous fissures, crumb-like opacities, color iridescence, and thickening under the posterior capsule in the lens were found in 86% of 45 patients with chronic active hepatitis B, mean age 33 +/- 2.5 years. Seven percent of patients developed posterior capsule cataracts. examinations of 42 patients with cirrhosis of the liver caused by hepatitis B virus (mean age 39 +/- 2 years) revealed changes in the lens in 100% and mature cataracts in 36% of the eyes. In 2 of the 4 healthy HBsAg carriers aged 31 to 35 initial changes in the lens and accumulation of antilenticular antibodies in the lacrimal fluid and serum. A reliable difference by all the tested parameters between the examinees and controls (HBsAg-negative age-matched blood donors, n = 20) confirms a relationship between hepatitis B infection and lenticular abnormalities in subjects of a productive age. Markers of hepatitis B virus (HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBe, anti-HBc) were found in the lenticular mass and blood sera of 11 out of 14 children aged 1.5 to 4 operated on for congenital nonhereditary cataracts; in 4 of them viral replication still continued. HBV markers of chronic viral carriership or markers of potential contagiousness were found in the sera of their mothers (in 6 and 5 sera, respectively), this indicating a possible intrauterine infection of children. The findings evidence a possible etiological role of hepatitis B virus infection in the formation of congenital and early acquired cataracts.

[Clinical and immunological signs of retinal lesions and possibilities of their correction by drugs in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases of viral etiology and carriers of Australia antigen]. / Kliniko-immunologicheskie priznaki porazheniia setchatki i vozmozhnosti ikh farmakokorrektsii u bol'nykh s khronicheskimi diffuznymi zabolevaniiami pecheni virusnoi étiologii i nositelei avstraliiskogo antigena.

A total of 133 subjects aged 15 to 55 were followed up, the main group (n = 87), patients with chronic diffuse diseases of the liver caused by hepatitis B virus, and two reference groups, 26 patients with uveitis and 20 normal subjects, 13 and 4 subjects of each group, respectively, were Australian antigen (HBsAg) carriers. Functional disorders of the retina were detected in 93.2% of group 1 patients, as well as intensified local (tears) and total system (blood) autoimmune reactions to tissue-specific retinal S-antigen (mol.mass 48 kD). An increased detection rate of antibodies to S-antigen and its higher titers were found in healthy virus carriers as compared to HBsAg-seronegative donors. These data may be regarded as evidence of an increased risk of uveoretinal pathology in subjects infected with hepatitis B virus, this being confirmed by a higher incidence (50%) of latent virus carriership in the group of patients with uveoretinitis. Stabilizing effect of cavinton in functional changes of the retina was revealed, this recommending this drug for combined therapy of patients with chronic diffuse diseases of the liver and for prevention of ocular diseases. The majority of the examinees in whom retinal abnormalities were found being young, the authors draw attention to the social aspect of the problem.

[Activities of a specific ocular traumatological center in the Moldavian Republic]. / O rabote edinogo Respublikanskogo glaznogo travmatologicheskogo tsentra v respublike Moldova.

The authors analyze the records of the traumatic center in Moldavia. 104 patients with ocular wounds were treated there over the period starting in August 1987 through January 1988. The authors analyze the volume of surgical interventions and their functional outcomes. Stages of treatment of perforating wounds of the eyes are discussed as is the postoperative treatment of such patients.

[A method of surgical treatment in eccentrically located keratoconus]. / Sposob khirurgicheskogo lecheniia ékstsentrichno raspolozhennogo keratokonusa.

The results of surgical treatment of 4 patients with eccentrically located keratoconus are analyzed. The surgery has removed the eccentric keratoconus, alleviated the clinical refraction of the eye at the expense of flattening the entire cornea by stretching a valve flap, essentially improved the visual acuity, and eliminated the complications associated with the keratoconus perforation and with the immunologic incompatibility reaction.