[Laser tyndallometry and monitoring of treatment in 20 children with juvenile uveitis]

Uveitis Specialists Harnessing Disruptive Technology during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Spurred by the coronavirus disease pandemic and shortage of eye care providers, telemedicine is transforming the way ophthalmologists care for their patients. Video conferencing, ophthalmic imaging, hybrid visits, intraocular inflammation quantification, and portable technology are evolving areas that may allow more uveitis patients to be evaluated via telemedicine. Despite these promising disruptive technologies, there remain significant technological limitations, legal barriers, variable insurance coverage for virtual visits, and lack of clinical trials for uveitis specialists to embrace telemedicine.

Laser flare-cell photometer: principle and significance in clinical and basic ophthalmology

A slit-lamp examination is an indispensable and essential clinical evaluation method in ophthalmology, but, it is qualitative subjective. To complement its weaknesses in making a quantitative evaluation of flare intensity and number of cells in the aqueous humor in the eye, we invented the laser flare-cell photometer in 1988. The instrument enables a non-invasive quantitative evaluation of flare intensity and number of cells in the aqueous with good accuracy and repeatability as well as maneuverability equal to slit-lamp microscopy. The instrument can elucidate the pathophysiology in the blood-aqueous barrier (BAB) function in a variety of ocular disorders. The accuracy of the instrument makes it possible to investigate not only the pathophysiology of intraocular disorders but also the effects of various drugs and surgical procedures in BAB. The instrument does not only lighten the burden on patients in clinical examinations and study but it also helps minimize the sacrifice of experimental animals and improves the reliability of the results by minimizing inter-individual variations through its good repeatability. Here I shall relate how the instrument has been applied to clinical and basic studies in ophthalmology and what novel knowledge its application contributed to pathophysiology in ophthalmology.

Ocular surface and intraocular inflammation are related in SS-I and rheumatoid arthritis patients

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the intraocular inflammation at a sub clinical level, in patients suffering from Sjogren's syndrome (SS-I) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), to relate it with the ocular surface status and to verify the diagnostic performance of the method. Twenty-eight patients suffering from SS-I, 31 patients suffering from RA and 31 normal subjects matched in age and gender were included in the study. A Kowa 500F laser cell flare meter was utilized to quantify the aqueous cells and flare in vivo, ocular surface inflammation was graded by conjunctival cytology and dosage of serum albumin in tears, eye dryness was scored with Tear Function Index. All data resulted significantly different in both SS-I and RA patients vs. control group and also different comparing SS-I vs. RA patients group, except for the Flare values. A blood-aqueous barrier breakdown occurs either in SS-I and RA patients; the degree of the damage is related with ocular surface inflammation and dryness. We recommend the aqueous flare be analysed in those rheumatic patients where an ocular surface inflammation has been documented.

Uveitis bei rheumatologischen Erkrankungen im Kindesalter

Children with juvenile chronic arthritis are at risk to develop intraocular inflammation depending on the type of arthritis. The pathogenic mechanisms are unclear; however, an association with antinuclear antibodies is well known. In particular young girls with oligoarticular onset of arthritis are affected most often. Regular ophthalmologic examinations should allow early diagnosis and effective therapy. Complications such as synechiae, cataract, or macula edema are seen especially in uveitis patients with late diagnosis and insufficient anti-inflammatory therapy. Better therapeutic regimens have led to a better overall prognosis of intraocular inflammation in recent years.