Prevalence of Unscreened Premature Infants Presenting With Advanced Stages of Retinopathy of Prematurity in South India: An Analysis of 220 Eyes.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the demographic profile of premature infants presenting with stage 4B and stage 5 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) at a tertiary referral center in South India. METHODS: This was a retrospective review including all premature infants with stage 4B and 5 ROP between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2022. Parameters included the newborns born at the tertiary care nursery of various institutes, gestational age, birth weight, age at presentation to the hospital, risk factors, screening details, neonatal intensive care unit details, reason for consultation, and timing of referral to the center. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty eyes of 110 premature infants were included. Of 110 infants, 6 were born within the same city and 104 were from other districts or states. Mean birth weight was 1,125 ± 360 g and mean gestational age at birth was 28 ± 2 weeks. Mean age was 42 ± 82 weeks and median age at presentation was 17 weeks (range: 2.86 to 591 weeks). Male-to-female infant ratio was 1.34:1. Fifty (45.4%) infants had bilateral stage 5 ROP, 17 (15.4%) had stage 5 in one eye and stage 4B in the other eye, 15 (13.6%) had bilateral stage 4B and 23 (20.9%) had stage 4B in one eye and stage 4A/stage 3 in the other eye. Five (4.5%) had stage 5 in one eye and vitreous hemorrhage/stage 4A in the other eye. Among those with bilateral stage 5 ROP, 90% were from neighboring districts/states. Fifty-two (47.27%) infants underwent vitreoretinal surgery. Of 110 infants, 28 (25.45%) were self-referred (late presentation due to family-related issues), 80 (72.73%) were referred by ophthalmologists either after a few sessions of late screening or for further management, 1 (0.91%) was referred through telescreening, and 1 was referred from pediatricians directly to the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of awareness of the disease and screening of premature infants. Lack of these two factors leads to late presentation of these infants with advanced stages and serious implications. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 20XX;X(X):XX-XX.].

Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity of Sun's Ranibizumab Biosimilar in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Phase 3, Double-Blind Comparative Study.

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to evaluate comparability in terms of efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of Sun's ranibizumab biosimilar with reference ranibizumab in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). METHODS: This prospective, randomised, double-blind, two-group, parallel-arm, multicentre, phase 3 comparative study included patients with nAMD ≥ 50 years, randomised (in a 2:1 ratio) in a double-blind manner to receive 0.5 mg (0.05 mL) intravitreal injection of either Sun's ranibizumab or reference ranibizumab in the study eye every 4 weeks until week 16 (total of four doses). RESULTS: Primary endpoint results demonstrated equivalence in the proportion of patients who lost fewer than 15 letters from baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) to the end of week 16 (99% of patients in Sun's ranibizumab and 100% in reference ranibizumab; p > 0.9999), with the proportional difference (90% confidence interval) at -1% (-2.51, +0.61) lying within a pre-specified equivalence margin. Visual acuity improved by 15 or more letters in 43% of Sun's ranibizumab group and 37% of the reference ranibizumab group (p = 0.4267). The mean increase in BCVA was 15.7 letters in Sun's ranibizumab group and 14.6 letters in the reference ranibizumab group (p < 0.001 within both groups and p = 0.5275 between groups). The mean change in central macular thickness was comparable between groups (p = 0.7946). Anti-ranibizumab antibodies were found in one patient of the reference ranibizumab group, while neutralising antibodies were not found in any patients. Both products were well tolerated. CONCLUSION: Sun's ranibizumab biosimilar is found to be therapeutically equivalent to reference ranibizumab in patients with nAMD. There were no additional safety or immunogenicity concerns. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CTRI/2020/09/027629, registered on 07 September 2020.

Multinational External Validation of Autonomous Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening.

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of blindness in children, with significant disparities in outcomes between high-income and low-income countries, due in part to insufficient access to ROP screening. Objective: To evaluate how well autonomous artificial intelligence (AI)-based ROP screening can detect more-than-mild ROP (mtmROP) and type 1 ROP. Design, Setting, and Participants: This diagnostic study evaluated the performance of an AI algorithm, trained and calibrated using 2530 examinations from 843 infants in the Imaging and Informatics in Retinopathy of Prematurity (i-ROP) study, on 2 external datasets (6245 examinations from 1545 infants in the Stanford University Network for Diagnosis of ROP [SUNDROP] and 5635 examinations from 2699 infants in the Aravind Eye Care Systems [AECS] telemedicine programs). Data were taken from 11 and 48 neonatal care units in the US and India, respectively. Data were collected from January 2012 to July 2021, and data were analyzed from July to December 2023. Exposures: An imaging processing pipeline was created using deep learning to autonomously identify mtmROP and type 1 ROP in eye examinations performed via telemedicine. Main Outcomes and Measures: The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) as well as sensitivity and specificity for detection of mtmROP and type 1 ROP at the eye examination and patient levels. Results: The prevalence of mtmROP and type 1 ROP were 5.9% (91 of 1545) and 1.2% (18 of 1545), respectively, in the SUNDROP dataset and 6.2% (168 of 2699) and 2.5% (68 of 2699) in the AECS dataset. Examination-level AUROCs for mtmROP and type 1 ROP were 0.896 and 0.985, respectively, in the SUNDROP dataset and 0.920 and 0.982 in the AECS dataset. At the cross-sectional examination level, mtmROP detection had high sensitivity (SUNDROP: mtmROP, 83.5%; 95% CI, 76.6-87.7; type 1 ROP, 82.2%; 95% CI, 81.2-83.1; AECS: mtmROP, 80.8%; 95% CI, 76.2-84.9; type 1 ROP, 87.8%; 95% CI, 86.8-88.7). At the patient level, all infants who developed type 1 ROP screened positive (SUNDROP: 100%; 95% CI, 81.4-100; AECS: 100%; 95% CI, 94.7-100) prior to diagnosis. Conclusions and Relevance: Where and when ROP telemedicine programs can be implemented, autonomous ROP screening may be an effective force multiplier for secondary prevention of ROP.

EYESPIRATOR- A novel do-it-yourself suction device.

Surgery, by nature, involves blood loss. Thus, suction plays an important role in ensuring a clean operating view and ease of access. In ophthalmology, there is a void for an efficient and flexible suction apparatus that is yet to be filled. Our innovation, the Eyespirator, is made using recycled or inexpensive parts, is easy to assemble, and can serve as a cost-effective alternative to the current apparatus under use. It helps to overcome the difficulties caused by large instruments and non-pliable suction tips, unregulated generation of vacuum, and high pressures generated causing trauma to the delicate structures, and can prove to be of immense use in fields such as ophthalmology where the small surgical field is a big challenge. It creates a vacuum by using a simple water pump and is regulated by a foot pedal. This can be deployed even in rural settings, and small modifications can allow its usage in a wide variety of surgical fields.

Full thickness macular hole with subfoveal pigment epithelial detachment in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy: A therapeutic challenge.

We describe the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies employed in the management of a patient with subfoveal pigment epithelial detachments (PEDs) combined with full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) and discuss the possible pathophysiology of these diseases occurring concurrently. A 38-year-old patient with a history of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) presented with FTMH overlying a large subfoveal serous PED. Multimodal imaging confirmed the same and intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections and eplerenone failed to resolve the PED. Spontaneous resolution of the large PED was observed later and pars plana vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling closed the macular hole successfully. However, the PED with fibrinous CSC recurred postoperatively and low fluence photodynamic therapy (PDT) was done to tackle the same. At 10 months' follow-up, the final vision was 6/9, the macular hole remained closed, and the PED had not recurred. Macular hole formation may be the result of choroidal hyperpermeability and leakage in the backdrop of CSC which gives rise to an exudative component causing mechanical stretching and disruption of the overlying sensory retina. Spontaneous uncomplicated resolution of large subfoveal PED in CSCR is rare. This case was managed with a combination of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections, surgery, and PDT. The therapeutic challenge here was the timing of surgery.

A 5-Year Review of Coinfections in Acanthamoeba keratitis From South India.

PURPOSE: To ascertain the frequency of coinfections in Acanthamoeba keratitis, the nature of copathogens involved, and to analyze the implications in the context of current research on amoebic interactions. METHODS: A retrospective case review from a Tertiary Care Eye Hospital in South India. Smear and culture data for coinfections in Acanthamoeba corneal ulcers were collected from records over a 5-year period. The significance and relevance of our findings in the light of current research on Acanthamoeba interactions were analyzed. RESULTS: Eighty-five cases of culture-positive Acanthamoeba keratitis were identified over a 5-year period (43 of them being coinfections). Fusarium was most commonly identified species, followed by Aspergillus and the dematiaceous fungi. Pseudomonas spp was the commonest bacterial isolate. CONCLUSION: Coinfections with Acanthamoeba are common at our centre, and account for 50% of Acanthamoeba keratitis. The diverse nature of the organisms involved in coinfections suggest that such amoebic interactions with other organisms are probably more widespread than recognized. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documentation from a long-term study of pathogen diversity in Acanthamoeba coinfections. It is possible that Acanthamoeba itself may be virulence enhanced and secondary to the co-organism, breaching the ocular surface defenses in an already compromised cornea. However, observations from the existing literature on Acanthamoeba interactions with bacteria and certain fungi are based mainly on nonocular or nonclinical isolates. It would be illuminating if such studies are performed on Acanthamoeba and coinfectors from corneal ulcers-to ascertain whether interactions are endosymbiotic or virulence enhanced through amoebic passage.

Efficacy of Smartphone-Based Telescreening for Retinopathy of Prematurity With and Without Artificial Intelligence in India.

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) telemedicine screening programs have been found to be effective, but they rely on widefield digital fundus imaging (WDFI) cameras, which are expensive, making them less accessible in low- to middle-income countries. Cheaper, smartphone-based fundus imaging (SBFI) systems have been described, but these have a narrower field of view (FOV) and have not been tested in a real-world, operational telemedicine setting. Objective: To assess the efficacy of SBFI systems compared with WDFI when used by technicians for ROP screening with both artificial intelligence (AI) and human graders. Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective cross-sectional comparison study took place as a single-center ROP teleophthalmology program in India from January 2021 to April 2022. Premature infants who met normal ROP screening criteria and enrolled in the teleophthalmology screening program were included. Those who had already been treated for ROP were excluded. Exposures: All participants had WDFI images and from 1 of 2 SBFI devices, the Make-In-India (MII) Retcam or Keeler Monocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope (MIO) devices. Two masked readers evaluated zone, stage, plus, and vascular severity scores (VSS, from 1-9) in all images. Smartphone images were then stratified by patient into training (70%), validation (10%), and test (20%) data sets and used to train a ResNet18 deep learning architecture for binary classification of normal vs preplus or plus disease, which was then used for patient-level predictions of referral warranted (RW)- and treatment requiring (TR)-ROP. Main Outcome and Measures: Sensitivity and specificity of detection of RW-ROP, and TR-ROP by both human graders and an AI system and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of grader-assigned VSS. Sensitivity and specificity were compared between the 2 SBFI systems using Pearson χ2testing. Results: A total of 156 infants (312 eyes; mean [SD] gestational age, 33.0 [3.0] weeks; 75 [48%] female) were included with paired examinations. Sensitivity and specificity were not found to be statistically different between the 2 SBFI systems. Human graders were effective with SBFI at detecting TR-ROP with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 83.49%. The AUCs with grader-assigned VSS only were 0.95 (95% CI, 0.91-0.99) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.93-0.99) for RW-ROP and TR-ROP, respectively. For the AI system, the sensitivity of detecting TR-ROP sensitivity was 100% with specificity of 58.6%, and RW-ROP sensitivity was 80.0% with specificity of 59.3%. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, 2 different SBFI systems used by technicians in an ROP screening program were highly sensitive for TR-ROP. SBFI systems with AI may be a cost-effective method to improve the global capacity for ROP screening.

Healing pattern of subfoveal retinal pigment epithelium rip and aperture in central serous chorioretinopathy.

This report describes a rare case of spontaneous Grade-4 retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) rip of serous pigment epithelial detachment (PED) in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and RPE aperture in the fellow eye, with favorable long-term outcomes. A 38-year-old man presented with defective vision (20/30) in the left eye (LE) due to bullous CSC associated with a large extramacular RPE rip located temporally and inferior exudative retinal detachment. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) confirmed a subfoveal serous PED with RPE aperture, subretinal fluid (SRF) and fibrinous exudation, and a large extramacular RPE rip temporally. The right eye (RE) had an asymptomatic large serous PED. The LE was treated with low-fluence photodynamic therapy, which resulted in the closure of RPE aperture and complete resolution of PED and SRF. Six-month later, the patient presented with sudden defective vision (20/120) in the RE secondary to a large fovea-involving (Grade-4) RPE rip with SRF as confirmed on OCT. Fluorescein angiography showed two extrafoveal active point leaks, which were treated with focal photocoagulation. He was also started on oral eplerenone. On subsequent serial follow-ups over 1 year, OCT showed SRF resolution and patchy reorganization of the subfoveal RPE-photoreceptor complex with good visual outcome (20/30).

Epidemiologic Evaluation of Retinopathy of Prematurity Severity in a Large Telemedicine Program in India Using Artificial Intelligence.

PURPOSE: Epidemiological changes in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) depend on neonatal care, neonatal mortality, and the ability to carefully titrate and monitor oxygen. We evaluate whether an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for assessing ROP severity in babies can be used to evaluate changes in disease epidemiology in babies from South India over a 5-year period. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Babies (3093) screened for ROP at neonatal care units (NCUs) across the Aravind Eye Care System (AECS) in South India. METHODS: Images and clinical data were collected as part of routine tele-ROP screening at the AECS in India over 2 time periods: August 2015 to October 2017 and March 2019 to December 2020. All babies in the original cohort were matched 1:3 by birthweight (BW) and gestational age (GA) with babies in the later cohort. We compared the proportion of eyes with moderate (type 2) or treatment-requiring (TR) ROP, and an AI-derived ROP vascular severity score (from retinal fundus images) at the initial tele-retinal screening exam for all babies in a district, VSS), in the 2 time periods. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in the proportions of type 2 or worse and TR-ROP cases, and VSS between time periods. RESULTS: Among BW and GA matched babies, the proportion [95% confidence interval {CI}] of babies with type 2 or worse and TR-ROP decreased from 60.9% [53.8%-67.7%] to 17.1% [14.0%-20.5%] (P < 0.001) and 16.8% [11.9%-22.7%] to 5.1% [3.4%-7.3%] (P < 0.001), over the 2 time periods. Similarly, the median [interquartile range] VSS in the population decreased from 2.9 [1.2] to 2.4 [1.8] (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In South India, over a 5-year period, the proportion of babies developing moderate to severe ROP has dropped significantly for babies at similar demographic risk, strongly suggesting improvements in primary prevention of ROP. These results suggest that AI-based assessment of ROP severity may be a useful epidemiologic tool to evaluate temporal changes in ROP epidemiology. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE(S): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.

Role of oral acetazolamide in refractory glaucomatous deep cup-related maculopathy.

A 39-year-old man, a known case of primary open-angle glaucoma on treatment, presented with defective central vision in the left eye. On examination, his intraocular pressure (IOP) was 26 mmHg in the right eye and 30 mmHg in the left eye with best-corrected visual acuity of 6/12 in each eye. Fundus examination showed glaucomatous optic neuropathy in both eyes and macular thickening in the left eye. Optical coherence tomography of the left eye showed macular detachment with peripapillary retinoschisis and a hyporeflective tract connecting schitic retina and the deep cup in the absence of an optic disc pit. A diagnosis of glaucomatous deep cup maculopathy (DCM) was made in the left eye, which persisted despite well-controlled IOP and peripapillary laser photocoagulation. The addition of oral acetazolamide (250 mg twice daily) to his regimen resulted in prompt resolution of maculopathy. Glaucomatous DCM is relatively rare, and its primary management is adequate IOP control with antiglaucoma medications. Including oral acetazolamide in the antiglaucoma regimen can help in faster resolution of maculopathy due to its additional effect on retinal pigment epithelial pump induction and stabilization of the pressure gradient.

External Validation of a Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening Model Using Artificial Intelligence in 3 Low- and Middle-Income Populations.

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of preventable blindness that disproportionately affects children born in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In-person and telemedical screening examinations can reduce this risk but are challenging to implement in LMICs owing to the multitude of at-risk infants and lack of trained ophthalmologists. Objective: To implement an ROP risk model using retinal images from a single baseline examination to identify infants who will develop treatment-requiring (TR)-ROP in LMIC telemedicine programs. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this diagnostic study conducted from February 1, 2019, to June 30, 2021, retinal fundus images were collected from infants as part of an Indian ROP telemedicine screening program. An artificial intelligence (AI)-derived vascular severity score (VSS) was obtained from images from the first examination after 30 weeks' postmenstrual age. Using 5-fold cross-validation, logistic regression models were trained on 2 variables (gestational age and VSS) for prediction of TR-ROP. The model was externally validated on test data sets from India, Nepal, and Mongolia. Data were analyzed from October 20, 2021, to April 20, 2022. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcome measures included sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for predictions of future occurrences of TR-ROP; the number of weeks before clinical diagnosis when a prediction was made; and the potential reduction in number of examinations required. Results: A total of 3760 infants (median [IQR] postmenstrual age, 37 [5] weeks; 1950 male infants [51.9%]) were included in the study. The diagnostic model had a sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for each of the data sets as follows: India, 100.0% (95% CI, 87.2%-100.0%) and 63.3% (95% CI, 59.7%-66.8%); Nepal, 100.0% (95% CI, 54.1%-100.0%) and 77.8% (95% CI, 72.9%-82.2%); and Mongolia, 100.0% (95% CI, 93.3%-100.0%) and 45.8% (95% CI, 39.7%-52.1%). With the AI model, infants with TR-ROP were identified a median (IQR) of 2.0 (0-11) weeks before TR-ROP diagnosis in India, 0.5 (0-2.0) weeks before TR-ROP diagnosis in Nepal, and 0 (0-5.0) weeks before TR-ROP diagnosis in Mongolia. If low-risk infants were never screened again, the population could be effectively screened with 45.0% (India, 664/1476), 38.4% (Nepal, 151/393), and 51.3% (Mongolia, 266/519) fewer examinations required. Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this diagnostic study suggest that there were 2 advantages to implementation of this risk model: (1) the number of examinations for low-risk infants could be reduced without missing cases of TR-ROP, and (2) high-risk infants could be identified and closely monitored before development of TR-ROP.

Preferred practice guidelines for retinopathy of prematurity screening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the leading cause of preventable infant blindness in the world and predominantly affects babies who are born low birth weight and premature. India has the largest number of surviving preterm births born annually. ROP blindness can be largely prevented if there is a robust screening program which detects treatment requiring disease in time. ROP treatment must be provided within 48 h of reaching this threshold of treatment making it a relative emergency. During the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in 2020 ROP screening was disrupted throughout the world due to lockdowns and restriction of movement of these infants, their families, specialists and healthcare workers. The Indian ROP Society issued guidelines for ROP screening and treatment in March 2020, which was aimed at preserving the chain-of-care despite the potential limitations and hazards during the (ongoing) pandemic. This preferred practice guideline is summarized in this manuscript.

A case of stromal microsporidiosis: medical strategies employed for successful resolution.

We describe the diagnosis and successful management of a case of stromal microsporidiosis, an important emerging ocular disease. Stromal microsporidiosis is recalcitrant and very often requires therapeutic keratoplasty for effective eradication. We successfully managed a steroid-treated case diagnosed only after 9 months, with a combination of polyhexamethyl biguanide 0.04%, chlorhexidine 0.04% and fluconazole 0.3% eye drops supplemented with tablet albendazole. However, complete resolution was achieved only after epithelial debridement. Toxicity due to the drugs was not noted. Diagnostic delays, steroid use and inappropriate therapy are commonly observed in stromal microsporidiosis. In spite of these potential disadvantages, our case responded well with complete eradication of the infection. The disease being fairly indolent and slowly progressive, medical therapy should be continued, in the absence of progression or other complications. Epithelial debridement may facilitate healing.

ATYPICAL CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY WITH CHOROIDAL DETACHMENT: A CASE REPORT.

PURPOSE: We describe long-term follow-up of a patient with atypical chronic central serous chorioretinopathy with inferior bullous retinal detachment and 360° choroidal detachment, findings on multimodal imaging, differential diagnoses, and treatment. METHODS: Case report. RESULTS: A 66-year-old male patient, known case of bilateral chronic central serous chorioretinopathy on follow-up, presented to us with sudden painless worsening of vision in the right eye. The fundus examination, optical coherence tomography, and fundus fluorescein angiography showed an atypical chronic central serous chorioretinopathy with inferior bullous retinal detachment and peripheral choroidal detachment. The patient underwent half-fluence photodynamic therapy in the right eye. At 3 months post-photodynamic therapy, there was resolution of choroidal detachment and minimal subretinal fluid was persisting in the inferior periphery, with improvement in visual acuity. CONCLUSION: Posterior choroidal loculation of fluid is a described entity in central serous chorioretinopathy. The possible explanations for anterior choroidal loculation of fluid in this case are: either a fresh excessive leakage of fluid from the posterior choroid and that fluid may have traversed to the peripheral choroid, or diffuse choroidal leakage extending up to the equatorial region, which resulted in peripheral choroidal thickening and suprachoroidal fluid accumulation.

Coincidental ocular findings during retinopathy of prematurity telescreening of 9105 neonates.

PURPOSE: To describe the magnitude and spectrum of abnormal ocular findings other than retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) detected during an ROP telescreening programme. METHODS: Retrospective review of the records of all premature babies screened for ROP from August 2015 to December 2019. RESULTS: A total 9105 babies were screened during the study period with total 17,075 imaging sessions. Non-ROP ocular abnormalities were seen in 566 eyes of 383 babies (4.2%) including 207 male (54%) and 176 female babies (46%). Posterior segment abnormalities were seen in 88.2% babies (338/383) with haemorrhage being the most common (77%, 295/383). Anterior segment pathologies were seen in 12% babies (46/383) with congenital cataract being the most common pathology requiring surgical intervention. Other findings included globe abnormalities in 0.8% babies (3/383), adnexal disorders in 0.5% babies (2/383) and squint in 0.3% babies (1/383). Rare life-threatening conditions such as retinoblastoma and lipaemia retinalis were also detected. Eighty-seven babies (22.7%) were diagnosed with referral-warranted non-ROP pathologies, with an overall prevalence of 1% (87/9105). Prompt surgical intervention was advised for 7.3% babies (28/383), 3.4% babies (13/383) were treated medically and 4.2% babies (16/383) needed visual rehabilitation for non-amenable pathologies. CONCLUSION: This is the largest study describing the magnitude and spectrum of neonatal ocular pathologies other than ROP in a cohort of premature babies. Digital imaging has a significant impact on early detection and timely intervention for various vision as well as life-threatening non-ROP pathologies, which would have been missed or delayed otherwise.

Pediatric choroidal neovascularization: Etiology and treatment outcomes with anti-vascular endothelial growth factors.

PURPOSE: To describe the etiology and treatment outcomes of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in a pediatric population with intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF). METHODS: Retrospective single center interventional case series. A total of 26 eyes of 23 consecutive pediatric patients with CNV of various etiologies were treated with intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agents. RESULTS: There were 15 males (65.2%) and eight females (34.8%), diagnosed with CNV during the study period. The mean age at presentation with CNV was 11.7 ± 3.3 years, (range 4-16 years) and the mean follow was 28.1 ± 18 months, (range 8-72 months). Inflammatory CNV was the most common etiology. The mean best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and mean central macular thickness (CMT) at presentation, were logMAR 0.8 ± 0.3 and 367.6 ± 134.8 µm respectively. At the final visit, CNV in all eyes remained regressed with significant improvement in mean BCVA to logMAR 0.4 ± 0.4 (p < 0.0001) and mean CMT to 242.5 ± 82.4 µm (p < 0.0001). A mean of two intravitreal injections per eye was required for CNV regression. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy for pediatric CNV is an effective treatment in majority of affected eyes.

Sequential multimodal imaging of isolated necrotic full-thickness macular hole secondary to toxoplasma retinochoroiditis.

PURPOSE: To describe the sequential multimodal imaging features of an isolated necrotic macular hole secondary to Toxoplasma retinochoroiditis. OBSERVATION: A 23-year-old male was referred for surgical management of an idiopathic macular hole following sudden decrease in vision in his right eye. Right eye examination showed best-corrected visual acuity of 20/200, mild anterior segment inflammation, and a full thickness non operculated macular hole (MH) with ill-defined ragged margins and surrounding strip of pallid edema. Further multimodal imaging including optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein angiography (FFA), and OCT-angiography confirmed the atypical configuration and inflammatory nature of MH. Serological tests showed elevated level of Toxoplasma gondii-specific antibodies. A diagnosis of necrotic isolated full-thickness MH secondary to toxoplasma retinochoroiditis was made. Patient was treated medically with anti-toxoplasma medication for 6 months. Sequential multimodal imaging highlighted the healing process of necrotic MH with vision improving to 20/80 at 6 months after presentation. CONCLUSION AND IMPORTANCE: A high level of suspicion and multimodal imaging plays an important role in accurate etiological diagnosis and management of atypical macular hole as in our case. Sequential multimodal imaging may provide an insight into the pathogenesis and healing pattern of such lesion.

Voriconazole in the successful management of a case of Acanthamoeba-Cladosporium keratitis.

PURPOSE: Acanthamoeba and fungal infections can be recalcitrant to therapy - more so when the deeper layers of the corneas are involved. We describe the diagnosis and successful management strategies employed in a case of deep keratitis due to co-infection with Acanthamoeba and Cladosporium sp. OBSERVATIONS: Once the diagnosis of co-infection with both Acanthamoeba and Cladosporium was made, treatment was initiated with a combination of PHMB, chlorhexidine, natamycin, and voriconazole; to which the response was favorable. Signs of relapse with spread of the infection to the deeper plane and the presence of endothelial exudates were noted at 5 weeks. This was attributed to poor compliance. Though the response to re-initiation of therapy under direct supervision was once again favorable; it was only after the introduction of intrastromal voriconazole repeated at timely intervals that rapid and complete resolution was obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Severe keratitis due to fungi or Acanthamoeba very often requires surgical intervention. Complete resolution with medical therapy was obtained only after the introduction of intrastromal voriconazole; thereby avoiding a therapeutic keratoplasty. The addition of voriconzole both topically and particularly intrastromally facilitated faster resolution as well as restricted the duration of therapy with more toxic drugs such as phmb and chlorhexidine.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening.

OBJECTIVES: Childhood blindness from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is increasing as a result of improvements in neonatal care worldwide. We evaluate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI)-based screening in an Indian ROP telemedicine program and whether differences in ROP severity between neonatal care units (NCUs) identified by using AI are related to differences in oxygen-titrating capability. METHODS: External validation study of an existing AI-based quantitative severity scale for ROP on a data set of images from the Retinopathy of Prematurity Eradication Save Our Sight ROP telemedicine program in India. All images were assigned an ROP severity score (1-9) by using the Imaging and Informatics in Retinopathy of Prematurity Deep Learning system. We calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and sensitivity and specificity for treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity. Using multivariable linear regression, we evaluated the mean and median ROP severity in each NCU as a function of mean birth weight, gestational age, and the presence of oxygen blenders and pulse oxygenation monitors. RESULTS: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for detection of treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity was 0.98, with 100% sensitivity and 78% specificity. We found higher median (interquartile range) ROP severity in NCUs without oxygen blenders and pulse oxygenation monitors, most apparent in bigger infants (>1500 g and 31 weeks' gestation: 2.7 [2.5-3.0] vs 3.1 [2.4-3.8]; P = .007, with adjustment for birth weight and gestational age). CONCLUSIONS: Integration of AI into ROP screening programs may lead to improved access to care for secondary prevention of ROP and may facilitate assessment of disease epidemiology and NCU resources.