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Biomedical subjects

L Koornneef

Publications and source records attributed to L Koornneef.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Computed tomography in the assessment of the postenucleation socket syndrome.

To gain a deeper insight into the cause of the postenucleation socket syndrome, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) was performed in 22 anophthalmic patients before insertion of an intraorbital implant. The anatomy of the normal and the anophthalmic orbits was compared. Computed tomographic scans were made either in the sagittal and the coronal plane or in the sagittal and transverse plane. The authors discovered a sagging and retraction of the superior muscle complex and a downward and forward redistribution of orbital fat. Finally, an upward displacement of the distal end together with a retraction of the inferior rectus muscle was found. These phenomena were measured and appear to cause a rotatory displacement of orbital contents from superior to posterior and from posterior to inferior which is best demonstrated in the sagittal plane. This redistribution of orbital contents can explain the sequelae of the anophthalmic orbit. No signs of orbital fat atrophy could be demonstrated. With this knowledge, the proper treatment of patients with a postenucleation socket syndrome is ascertained.

Adult↗

Orbital decompression for Graves' ophthalmopathy by inferomedial, by inferomedial plus lateral, and by coronal approach.

To test the efficacy and safety of orbital decompression for Graves' ophthalmopathy, the authors studied the records of 60 consecutive patients who were operated on for dysthyroid optic neuropathy or for rehabilitative purposes. Patients decompressed for neuropathy were older, had less proptosis, and a shorter duration of eye disease than patients operated on for disfigurement. The authors compared the results of three surgical procedures including the inferomedial, the inferomedial plus lateral, and the coronal approach. Regarding improvement of visual function, no difference was found between the three techniques. Patients in whom vision failed to recover had a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Proptosis reduction varied from 1 to 9 mm, depending on the number of walls decompressed. There was no net change in the prevalence of diplopia. Persistent complications were seen in less than 5% of all decompressions. The authors conclude that orbital decompression for Graves' ophthalmopathy is safe and efficacious, regardless of surgical procedure. However, the coronal approach gives the best cosmetic results.

Adult↗

Primary versus secondary intraorbital implants.

To compare the results of primary and secondary intraorbital implants after enucleation, we retrospectively studied the surgical outcomes of 114 patients. In 44 patients the implant was inserted immediately after enucleation and in the remaining 70 patients the implant was inserted at a later date. To achieve a satisfactory cosmetic result, additional procedures were needed in 11% of the patients with a primary implant and in 49% of those with a secondary implant. The insertion of an implant at the time of enucleation has distinct advantages over the insertion of the implant at a later date.

Adult↗

Linear scleroderma associated with ptosis and motility disorders.

A case is reported in which an 11-year-old girl developed progressive ptosis and a subsequent motility disorder of the right eye. The diagnosis linear scleroderma en coup de sabre was established. Atrophy of the upper levator palpebral and superior rectus muscle could be shown on CT scan.

Blepharoptosis↗

Effect of abnormal thyroid function on the severity of Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Many clinicians have the impression that treatment of thyroid dysfunction ameliorates ophthalmopathy in Graves' disease. The aim of our study was to relate thyroid function to the severity of Graves' ophthalmopathy. We studied 90 patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy and Graves' hyperthyroidism in whom severity of Graves' ophthalmopathy and thyroid function (regardless of antithyroid treatment) were assessed when referred to our institution. Patients were assigned to four groups (A through D) with increasingly severe Graves' ophthalmopathy using Total Eye Score based on the NOSPECS classification. The percentage of dysthyroid patients in each group was determined: group A had 23% dysthyroid patient (5); group B, 32% (9); group C, 61% (14); and group D, 47% (8). More dysthyroid patients were in the groups with severe Graves' ophthalmopathy. We also compared the severity of Graves' ophthalmopathy between euthyroid (n = 54) and dysthyroid (n = 36) patients: euthyroid patients had less proptosis (19.9 +/- 3.5 vs 20.8 +/- 3.4 mm), better visual acuity (0.93 +/- 0.17 vs 0.88 +/- 0.18), and lower Total Eye Score (8.6 +/- 6.6 vs 10.6 +/- 6.6). We conclude that dysthyroidism is associated with more severe Graves' ophthalmopathy. Our findings suggest that meticulous control of thyroid function also during antithyroid treatment is important in the management of Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Adult↗

[Is an implant always necessary after enucleation?].

A retrospective study was performed on 114 patients who had received an intraorbital ball implant after removal of an eye: 44 had a primary implant inserted at the time of enucleation and 70 a secondary implant, inserted at a later date. We observed distinct advantages in the primary implantation group. Patients with a primary implant, an acrylic ball covered with sclera inserted within Tenon's capsule, had better cosmetic results and a lower complication rate and fewer needed any other therapeutic measures. Of the patients with primary implants 89% did not require further treatment, as against 51% with secondary implants.

Eye Enucleation↗

Prednisone and cyclosporine in the treatment of severe Graves' ophthalmopathy.

It is uncertain what is the most appropriate medical therapy for patients with severe Graves' ophthalmopathy. Therefore, we carried out a single-blind, randomized clinical trial to compare the efficacy of prednisone with that of cyclosporine in 36 patients who had been euthyroid for at least two months. The two groups, each consisting of 18 patients, were similar in age, sex, and the duration and severity of ophthalmopathy. The initial dose of cyclosporine was 7.5 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, and that of prednisone was 60 mg per day, which was subsequently tapered to 20 mg per day. During the 12-week treatment period, 11 prednisone-treated and 4 cyclosporine-treated patients responded to therapy (61 percent vs. 22 percent; P = 0.018); response was manifested by decreases in eye-muscle enlargement and proptosis and improved visual acuity and total and subjective eye scores. There were no differences at base line between the patients who later responded and those who did not. Prednisone was tolerated less well than cyclosporine. After 12 weeks, patients who did not respond were treated for another 12 weeks with a combination of cyclosporine and a low dose of prednisone. Among the 9 patients who initially received prednisone, the addition of cyclosporine resulted in improvement in 5 (56 percent); among the 13 patients who received cyclosporine initially, 8 (62 percent) improved after the addition of prednisone. Combination therapy was better tolerated than prednisone treatment alone. We conclude that single-drug therapy with prednisone is more effective than cyclosporine in patients with severe Graves' ophthalmopathy. The combination can be effective in patients who do not respond to either drug alone.

Adult↗

Treatment of ptosis by levator resection with adjustable sutures via the anterior approach.

The authors describe a one-step anterior approach levator resection technique with intraoperative adjustable sutures. Forty-four ptotic eyes were divided into five groups, and the results of this technique were evaluated for each of these five types of ptosis. Our results show that it is not possible to predict the extent of a levator resection preoperatively from the assessment of the levator function and degree of ptosis. We therefore propose this flexible method as the operation of choice for the correction of senile, traumatic and congenital ptosis.

Adolescent↗

Clinical criteria for the assessment of disease activity in Graves' ophthalmopathy: a novel approach.

Patients with serious inflammatory Graves' ophthalmopathy should be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs or radiotherapy to prevent complications like fibrosis, while those with non-inflammatory ophthalmopathy may be treated by surgery immediately. It is often difficult, however, to distinguish inflammatory from non-inflammatory Graves' disease. We therefore present a simple clinical classification here to differentiate between these two conditions. This classification is based on the classical signs of inflammation--pain, redness, swelling, and impaired function. After two consecutive clinical examinations an 'activity score' can be determined, ranging from 0 to 10 points. In a retrospective study testing the efficacy of this classification we found that patients with an activity score of 3 or more at the beginning of therapy responded well to anti-inflammatory drugs, while those with a lower activity score mostly did not. Comparing the pretreatment activity score with the degree of enlargement of the extraocular muscles on the CT scan, we found a significant correlation between these two parameters: the higher the activity score, the more the enlargement of the muscles. We conclude that this classification facilitates the proper selection of patients for treatment.

Adult↗

Clinical presentation of Graves' ophthalmopathy.

The eye findings of Graves' ophthalmopathy were prospectively recorded in 90 consecutive untreated patients (66 females, 24 males; mean age 44.5 years) according to the 1977 NOSPECS classification. Soft-tissue involvement was observed in 90%, proptosis greater than or equal to 23 mm in 30%, eye muscle involvement in 60%, corneal involvement in 9% and sight loss in 34%. No differences in the distribution of eye changes between right and left eye were found. Values for proptosis (mean +/- SD, 20.2 +/- 3.6 mm) had a near-normal distribution. Orbital computed tomography (CT) scanning (performed in 80 cases) demonstrated enlargement of inferior rectus in 60%, medial rectus in 50%, superior rectus in 40% and lateral rectus in 22%. Unilateral eye disease was present in 13 patients (14%); in 4 of these patients the CT scan showed eye muscle enlargement also in the fellow eye and in 2 patients bilateral eye disease subsequently developed. The distribution of age, sex and NOSPECS classes in patients with unilateral eye disease was similar to that in patients with bilateral eye disease, but the interval between the onset of thyroid and eye disease was much shorter in cases of unilateral than in cases of bilateral eye disease. Patients without clinically evident thyroid disease (n = 20, 22%) were not different from patients with thyroid disease in age, sex or ophthalmological presentation. The various data suggest: (1) the 1977 NOSPECS classification under-represents significant proptosis in 12% of cases; (2) the age and sex distribution of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy is similar to that of cases with thyroidal Graves' disease, and (3) unilateral Graves' ophthalmopathy may represent an early stage of the disease, that as a rule already is or develops shortly afterwards into a bilateral disease.

Adult↗

Circulating monocyte migration inhibitory factor in serum of Graves' ophthalmopathy patients: a parameter for disease activity?

A factor which inhibits the random migration of monocytes in vitro was found in the serum of nearly half of Graves' ophthalmopathy patients. This factor was found in serum of only 4% of the healthy controls. When the Graves' ophthalmopathy patients were subdivided, on clinical criteria (pain, redness, swelling and impaired function), into patients with active disease and patients with inactive disease, the serum factor was found in 61% of the patients with active inflammatory disease and only in 14% of the patients with inactive disease. Furthermore this factor was also found in the serum of patients with an acute episode of uveitis, suggesting that it may be a useful marker for assessment of a localized inflammatory process.

Acute Disease↗

Temporal relationship between onset of Graves' ophthalmopathy and onset of thyroidal Graves' disease.

The temporal relationship between the onset of Graves' ophthalmopathy and the onset of thyroidal Graves' disease was evaluated in 125 consecutive patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. Thyroidal Graves' disease--past or present--was clinically evident in 99 patients (79%): hyperthyroidism in 3 cases. Thyroid disease preceded the eye disease in 37 patients, it occurred simultaneously with the eye disease in 39 patients, and it developed after the eye disease in 23 patients (in 16 cases within one yr after the onset of eye disease). The age at the onset of thyroid disease (38.7 +/- 12.9 yr) was lower than the age at the onset of ophthalmopathy (41.8 +/- 12.5 yr; p less than 0.001). Among the 26 clinically euthyroid patients (21%) laboratory evidence of thyroidal Graves' disease was found in 14 cases (11%): abnormal TRH test, n = 9; normal TRH test but abnormal T3-suppression test, n = 4; normal TRH and T3-suppression tests but positive thyroid stimulating antibodies, n = 1). We conclude that Graves' ophthalmopathy as a rule develops at a time when thyroid autoimmunity also exists. This strongly suggests a common factor in the pathogenesis of thyroidal and ocular expressions of Graves' disease.

Adult↗

Eyelid and orbital fascial attachments and their clinical significance.

Orbital connective tissue can be considered as an additional locomotory system of the eye. It is involved in orbital fractures, explaining the bizarre motility patterns in these patients. Various conditions, in patients with Graves' disease, are explained using the orbital connective tissue system as a key-stone. Avoidance of postoperative complications are discussed in eyelid lengthening and shortening procedures.

Eyelids↗

Therapeutic outcome of prednisone medication and of orbital irradiation in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Response to treatment was evaluated prospectively in 58 patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. Prednisone, administered to 44 patients, resulted in a favourable response in 29 patients (66%): excellent in 3, good in 10 and fair in 16 subjects; 15 patients (34%) did not respond. Orbital irradiation was administered to 39 patients of whom all except 4 had been treated previously with steroids. Six months later, 25 patients (64%) had responded favourably (excellent in 0, good in 9 and fair in 16 subjects) and 14 patients had not responded (36%). A favourable response to prednisone or irradiation was reflected in a general shift to lower grades in each of the classes 2-6 of the NOSPECS system. Responders were not different from non-responders with regard to age, sex, NOSPECS classification, ophthalmopathy index, interval between the onset of eye disease (or of thyroid disease if present) and the start of treatment, or the presence of thyroid disease. In conclusion, (1) the ratio of responders to non-responders is 2:1 for both prednisone treatment and orbital irradiation in Graves' ophthalmopathy, (2) the response is seen in all classes of the NOSPECS system, and (3) the response is not dependent on age, sex, severity or duration of eye disease, or the presence of thyroid disease.

Female↗

The influence of high molecular weight sodium hyaluronate (Healon) on the production of migration inhibitory factor.

The effect of sodium hyaluronate on the production of migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was studied in a two step MIF-assay. High molecular weight sodium hyaluronate (100 micrograms/ml), added during the inductory step of the MIF-assay, inhibited the production of MIF. The inhibitory effect did not appear to be due to physical factors such as steric hindrance, which may prevent mitogen binding, since cells preactivated with phytohemagglutinin A (PHA) did not produce MIF when incubated in the presence of sodium hyaluronate. The inhibitory effect was still measurable when the sodium hyaluronate was added upto two hours after stimulation of the mononuclear cells with PHA. Inhibition was also found when the cells were preincubated with sodium hyaluronate, and washed prior to mitogen stimulation. Sodium hyaluronate could only be removed from the cells by incubation with hyaluronidase or by incubation of the cells for at least two hours in culture medium, whereafter the cells could be stimulated to the same extent as normal untreated cells to produce MIF. This inhibitory effect on cytokine production may explain the reduced inflammatory reactions found both in vivo and in vitro in the presence of sodium hyaluronate.

Antigens↗