Purpose of review The aim of this article is to assess the current state of teleophthalmology given the sudden surge in telemedicine demand in response to the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Recent findings Recommendations and policies from government and national health organizations, combined with social distancing, have led to exponential increases in telemedicine use. Teleophthalmology can be integrated into ophthalmic care delivery. In the emergency room, teleophthalmology can be utilized to triage patients and diagnose common ophthalmic eye diseases. Ophthalmology practices can utilize real-time medicine to conduct many parts of an in-person exam. In cases where more complex diagnostic tools are warranted, a model incorporating telemedicine and focused in-person visits may still be beneficial. Innovative technologies emerging in the market allow for increased remote monitoring, screening, and management of adult and pediatric patients for common eye diseases. Summary COVID-19 created a demand for healthcare delivery that limits in-person examination and potential viral exposure. Teleophthalmology allows ophthalmologists to continue caring for patients while keeping physicians and patients safe. Although challenges still exist, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of teleophthalmology. As a result, teleophthalmology will play an integral role in providing high-quality efficient care in the near future.

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Purpose To characterize the delivery of emergent ophthalmic surgical care during April 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the same time interval the year prior. Design Retrospective, observational before-and-after study Methods Review and characterization of each emergent/urgent procedure performed during April 2020 and April 2019 at a single tertiary ophthalmology referral center. Information collected included the details of patient presentation, diagnosis, surgical procedure, and preoperative COVID-19 testing. Results In total, 117 surgical procedures were performed on 114 patients during the month of April 2020 compared with 1,107 performed in April 2019 ( p < 0.0001). Retinal detachment repair was the most common procedure (37, 31.6%) in April 2020 while elective cataract surgery (481, 47.3%) was most common in April 2019. The mean age of patients was 50.0 years in April of 2020 compared to 59.0 years (p<0.0001) the year prior. During April 2020, the mean age of surgeons performing procedures was 42.3 years compared to 48.4 years (p<0.0001) during April 2019. In April 2020, all but 5 patients (96%) had RT-PCR based COVID-19 testing prior to their procedure. One patient (0.88%) had a positive COVID-19 test . Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic decreased our institution’s surgical volume in April 2020 to approximately 10% of the usual volume. The pandemic changed the type of cases performed and led to a statistically significant decrease in both the age of our surgeons and patients relative to the same interval in the year prior. Broad preoperative screening led to one positive COVID-19 test in an asymptomatic patient.

Brain tumor patients often experience functional deficits that extend beyond the tumor site. While resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) has been used to map such functional connectivity changes in brain tumor patients, the interplay between abnormal tumor vasculature and the rsfMRI signal is still not well understood. Therefore, there is an exigent need for new tools to elucidate how the blood‑oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) rsfMRI signal is modulated in brain cancer. In this initial study, we explore the utility of a preclinical model for quantifying brain tumor-induced changes on the rsfMRI signal and resting-state brain connectivity. We demonstrate that brain tumors induce brain-wide alterations of resting-state networks that extend to the contralateral hemisphere, accompanied by global attenuation of the rsfMRI signal. Preliminary histology suggests that some of these alterations in brain connectivity may be attributable to tumor-related remodeling of the neurovasculature. Moreover, this work recapitulates clinical rsfMRI findings from brain tumor patients in terms of the effects of tumor size on the neurovascular microenvironment. Collectively, these results lay the foundation of a preclinical platform for exploring the usefulness of rsfMRI as a potential new biomarker in patients with brain cancer.

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