The purpose of this study was to summarize the results related to ocular biometry performed using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). A literature search was conducted to search articles reporting the clinical outcomes of patients who underwent examinations with commercially available SS-OCT machines. The available data were thoroughly analyzed, with a particular focus on all the biometric factors used to calculate the power of intraocular lenses (IOLs) implanted during cataract surgery. The agreement, repeatability, and reproducibility of several parameters among different devices were examined. The variations found for parameters obtained from agreement testing were evaluated in order to promote the interchangeability of devices. Swept-source optical coherence tomography biometers usually produce highly repeatable and reproducible results. The excellent results obtained led us to the conclusion that optical biometers based on SS-OCT technology will probably take the lead in ocular biometry.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. Visual disturbance is one of the most frequent nonmotor abnormalities referred to by patients suffering from PD at early stages. Furthermore, ocular surface alterations including mainly dry eye and blink reduction represent another common finding in patients with PD. Tears of PD patients show specific alterations related to protein composition, and in vivo confocal microscopy has demonstrated profound changes in different corneal layers in this setting. These changes can be attributed not only to the disease itself, but also to the medications used for its management. In particular, signs of corneal toxicity, both at epithelial and endothelial level, are well described in the literature in PD patients receiving amantadine. Management of PD patients from the ophthalmologist’s side requires knowledge of the common, but often underdiagnosed, ocular surface alterations as well as of the signs of drug toxicity. Furthermore, ocular surface biomarkers can be useful for the early diagnosis of PD as well as for monitoring the degree of neural degeneration over time.

Subretinal injection is performed in vitreoretinal surgery with two main aims, namely, the subretinal delivery of therapeutic agents and subretinal injection of fluid to induce a controlled and localized macular detachment. The growing interest in this technique is mainly related to its suitability to deliver gene therapy in direct contact with target tissues. However, subretinal injection has been also used for the surgical management of submacular hemorrhage through the subretinal delivery of tissue plasminogen activator, and for the repair of full-thickness macular holes, in particular refractory ones. In the light of the increasing importance of this maneuver in vitreoretinal surgery as well as of the lack of a standardized surgical approach, we conducted a comprehensive overview on the current indications for subretinal injection, surgical technique with the available variations, and the potential complications.

Corneal transparency, necessary for vision and depending on the high organization of stromal extracellular matrix, is maintained by keratocytes. Severe or continuous corneal injuries determine exaggerated healing responses resulting in the formation of irreversible fibrotic scars and vision impairment. Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulation demonstrated antifibrotic effects in both experimental fibrosis and human lung and skin fibroblasts. Here, we assessed whether sGC stimulation with BAY 41-2272 could attenuate transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1)-induced myofibroblast differentiation of human corneal keratocytes. Cells were challenged with TGFβ1, with/without BAY 41-2272 preincubation, and subsequently assessed for viability, proliferation, migration, chemoinvasion, as well for the expression of myofibroblast/fibroblast activation markers and contractile abilities. Treatment with BAY 41-2272 did not affect keratocyte viability, while preincubation of cells with the sGC stimulator was able to inhibit TGFβ1-induced proliferation, wound healing capacity, and invasiveness. BAY 41-2272 was also able to attenuate TGFβ1-induced myofibroblast-like profibrotic phenotype of keratocytes, as demonstrated by the significant decrease in ACTA2, COL1A1, COL1A2, FN1 and PDPN gene expression, as well as in α-smooth muscle actin, α-1 chain of type I collagen, podoplanin, vimentin and N-cadherin protein expression. Finally, BAY 41-2272 significantly counteracted the TGFβ1-induced myofibroblast-like ability of keratocytes to contract collagen gels, reduced phosphorylated Smad3 protein levels, and attenuated gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Collectively, our data show for the first time that BAY 41-2272 is effective in counteracting keratocyte-to-myofibroblast transition, thus providing the rationale for the development of sGC stimulators as novel promising modulators of corneal scarring and fibrosis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the short-term efficacy and safety of autologous platelet-rich plasma (a-PRP) as an adjuvant to revisional vitrectomy for refractory full-thickness macular holes (rFTMHs). We conducted a prospective, non-randomized interventional study including patients with rFTMH after a pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with internal limiting membrane peeling and gas tamponade. We included 28 eyes from 27 patients with rFTMHs: 12 rFTMHs in highly myopic eyes (axial length greater than 26.5 mm or a refractive error greater than -6D or both); 12 large rFTMHs (minimum hole width > 400 μm); and 4 rFTMHs secondary to the optic disc pit. All patients underwent 25-G PPV with a-PRP, a median time of 3.5 ± 1.8 months after the primary repair. At the six-month follow-up, the overall rFTMH closure rate was 92.9%, distributed as follows: 11 out of 12 eyes (91.7%) in the highly myopic group, 11 out of 12 eyes (91.7%) in the large rFTMH group, and 4 out of 4 eyes (100%) in the optic disc pit group. Median best-corrected visual acuity significantly improved in all groups, in particular from 1.00 (interquartile range: 0.85 to 1.30) to 0.70 (0.40 to 0.85) LogMAR in the highly myopic group (p = 0.016), from 0.90 (0.70 to 1.49) to 0.40 (0.35 to 0.70) LogMAR in the large rFTMH group (p = 0.005), and from 0.90 (0.75 to 1.00) to 0.50 (0.28 to 0.65) LogMAR in the optic disc pit group. No intraoperative or postoperative complications were reported. In conclusion, a-PRP can be an effective adjuvant to PPV in the management of rFTMHs.