Browsing by Author "Ferreira, Joana Tavares"
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- Dril influences short-term visual outcome after intravitreal corticosteroid injection for refractory diabetic macular edemaPublication . Luís, Maria Elisa; Sampaio, Filipa; Costa, José; Cabral, Diogo; Teixeira, Carla; Ferreira, Joana TavaresPurpose: Intravitreal injections (IVI) of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) are considered the gold standard for diabetic macular edema (DME). Despite adequate anti-VEGF treatments, many patients present persistent DME. The aim of this study is to identify systemic, ocular and anatomical characteristics influencing functional and anatomical outcomes in refractory DME patients treated with IVI of corticosteroid. Materials and Methods: Retrospective multicenter hospital-based cohort study including type 2 diabetic adult patients with refractory DME that switched from intravitreal anti-VEGF to intravitreal corticosteroid between January 2017 and September 2018. Sociodemographic, clinical data, DME and treatment characteristics were collected at baseline (visit before switch), as well as spectral domain OCT features. Results: A total of 101 eyes were included. The median number of anti-VEGF injections before switch was 5.0 (min-max: 4.0-9.0) and the median anti-VEGF treatment duration before switch was 33.2 (min-max: 19.5-50.3) months. More than half of the patients (56; 54.9%) were diagnosed with diffuse DME. At baseline, 80 (88%) patients had cystoid DME, 55 (62.5%) patients had disorganization of retinal inner layers (DRIL) and 16 (17.6%) had subretinal fluid. Dexamethasone was the corticosteroid more commonly used (71.4%), followed by triamcinolone (24.4%) and fluocinolone (4.2%). Regarding best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), post-switch results showed no statistically significant improvement at three-month follow-up (p = .048/0.096), but the mean central macular thickness (CMT) decreased significantly from 486.3 (SD = 159) µm to 369.3 (SD = 129) µm at three-month follow-up (p < .001). DRIL was the tomographic characteristic able to influence significantly both CMT and BCVA final results (p = .02 and 0.012, respectively). Conclusions: Subfoveal DRIL on structural OCT was the DME factor influencing significantly clinical and imaging outcomes in refractory DME patients treated with intravitreal corticosteroid. Portuguese care trend towards DME shows preference for the use of dexamethasone implant after therapeutic failure with ranibizumab or bevacizumab injection.
- Paracentral acute middle maculopathy: review of the literaturePublication . Moura-Coelho, Nuno; Gaspar, Teresa; Ferreira, Joana Tavares; Dutra-Medeiros, Marco; Cunha, João PauloParacentral acute middle maculopathy (PAMM) is a recently identified spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) finding characterized by a hyper-reflective band spanning the inner nuclear layer (INL), which typically evolves to INL atrophy in later stages. Typical clinical features include the sudden onset of one or multiple paracentral scotomas, normal or mild reduction in visual acuity, and a normal fundus appearance or a fundus with a deep grayish lesion. Although its pathophysiology is not yet fully understood, ischemia at the level of the intermediate and deep capillary plexa has been demonstrated to play a major role. Since its first description, an increasing number of publications on PAMM have been published in ophthalmology scientific journals. The purpose of this study is to provide a review of the current literature on PAMM.
- Retinal structural changes in preterm children without retinopathy of prematurityPublication . Maleita, Diogo; Serras-Pereira, Rita; Passos, Inês; Elisa-Luís, Maria; Alves, Marta; Papoila, Ana Luísa; Brito, Cristina; Cunha, João Paulo; Ferreira, Joana TavaresPurpose: The aim of this study was to compare all retinal layers' thickness in full-term and preterm children without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: Cross-sectional study including two groups of patients: group 1 children with a history of preterm gestation without ROP (gestational age < 37 weeks) and group 2 healthy children with a history of full-term gestation. All subjects underwent an ophthalmic examination including spectral domain-optical coherence tomography. After automatic retinal segmentation, each retinal layer thickness (eight separate layers and overall thickness) was calculated in all nine Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study areas. Demographic, systemic, gestational, and birth data were collected. Generalized additive regression models were used to analyze the data. Results: Fifty-one children (51 eyes) were recruited, 19 full-term and 32 preterm children, mean age at an ophthalmic examination of 10.58 (4.21) and 14.13 (3.16), respectively. In multivariable analysis, the preterm group's retinal thickness was significantly decreased in total retina nasal outer sector, ganglion cell layer (GCL), and inner plexiform layer (IPL), specifically GCL temporal outer (p = 0.010), GCL superior outer (p = 0.009), IPL temporal outer (p = 0.022), and IPL superior outer (p = 0.004), when compared with the full-term group. From the variables compared only with a birth head circumference that influenced the models, a non-linear association was identified and consequently modeled with splines through a generalized additive model. Conclusion: This study suggests that preterm children without ROP have structural retinal alterations, mostly in GCL and IPL in outer areas of the macula. Therefore, it is crucial to question gestational history since these retinal changes may be found later in life leading to a useless investigation.
- A review of neuro-ophthalmological manifestations of human coronavirus infectionPublication . Luís, Maria Elisa; Hipólito-Fernandes, Diogo; Mota, Catarina; Maleita, Diogo; Xavier, Catarina; Maio, Tiago; Cunha, João Paulo; Ferreira, Joana TavaresIntroduction: Human coronavirus (HCoVs) are a group of viruses with recognized neurotropic and neuroinvasive capabilities. The reports on the neurological and ocular findings are increasing day after day and several central and peripheral neurological manifestations are already described. However, none specifically describes the neuro-ophthalmological manifestation of HCoVs. This is the first article specifically reviewing neuro-ophthalmological manifestations of HCoVs infection. Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched using the keywords: coronaviridae, coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, MERS, ocular, ophthalmology, ophthalmological, neuro-ophthalmology, neurological, manifestations. A manual search through the reference lists of relevant articles was also performed. There were no restrictions concerning language or study type and publications not yet printed but available online were considered. Results: Coronavirus eye involvement is not frequent and includes mostly typical viral follicular conjunctivitis. Recently, retinal anatomical alterations were described using optic coherence tomography. Neuro-ophthalmological symptoms and signs can appear isolated or associated with neurological syndromes. The manifestations include headache, ocular pain, visual impairment, diplopia, cranial nerve palsies secondary to Miller Fisher syndrome, Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalitis, and nystagmus. Conclusion: Neurological and neuro-ophthalmological syndromes, symptoms, and signs should not be neglected and a complete ophthalmological examination of these patients should be performed to fully describe ocular manifestations related to HCoVs. We believe that major ocular and neuro-ophthalmological manifestations reports lack due to safety issues concerning detailed ophthalmological examination; on the other hand, in a large number of cases, the presence of life-threatening coronavirus disease hinders ocular examination and ophthalmologist's visit to the intensive care unit.