We describe two sibs with DIDMOAD-Syndrome, a 19-year-old girl with diabetes mellitus (type I), optic atrophy, inner-ear deafness, and atonia of the urinary tract, and her 5-year-old brother with diabetes mellitus (type I) and optic atrophy. Studies of red blood cell insulin receptors revealed a normal number of receptors per cell and normal affinity to insulin. The syndrome represents an autosomal recessively inherited type of diabetes mellitus, which remains often undiagnozed since most of the symptoms except diabetes mellitus and optic atrophy occur with varying expressivity. An atonia of the efferent urinary tract often with fatal complications is present in 46% of all patients with this syndrome reported in the literature and is unfortunately not included in the acronym DIDMOAD.

In a review of 474 malignant melanomas of the posterior uvea the incidence of totally necrotic tumors was 3.6% and of partially necrotic, 5.7%. Longer time intervals to appearance of first symptoms and enucleation, secondary glaucoma, and inflammatory exophthalmos were significantly more frequent in necrotic malignant melanomas (P less than 0.01). Histopathological examination also revealed that necrotic tumors more often had secondary angle-closure glaucoma, rubeosis iridis, cellular inflammatory infiltrates, and extraocular extension when compared to non-necrotic tumors (P less than 0.01).

The refractive status of 100 eyes were measured by three ophthalmologists utilizing retinoscopy under non-cycloplegic and cycloplegic conditions. The statistical analysis of the results was done by multiple regression. The retinoscopic measurements of sphere and cylinder of the three examiners show smaller differences under cycloplegic than under non-cycloplegic conditions. The largest differences in the measurements of axis were found in cases of small cylinder power. Especially in children and in patients with strabismus, the authors feel that measurements of the refractive state have to be carried out under cycloplegia.

A patient with a malignant melanoma of the choroid was treated at first successfully with the ¹⁰⁶Ru beta ray applicator. Because new tumor growth could not be ruled out, the eye was enucleated 2½ years after radiotherapy. The histopathologic examination revealed, however, a complete tumor cell necrosis.

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