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Biomedical subjects

M J Lucarelli

Publications and source records attributed to M J Lucarelli.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Use of botulinum A toxin in patients at risk of wound complications following eyelid reconstruction.

Our purpose was to determine the efficacy of botulinum A toxin (BOTOX) in promoting wound immobilization and preventing wound dehiscence in patients at risk of wound-healing complications following eyelid reconstruction. In 11 patients at risk of postoperative wound complications, we injected BOTOX into the periocular musculature in addition to standard suture tarsorrhaphy. Each patient experienced excellent wound immobilization and wound healing. There were no complications. Adjuvant use of BOTOX, in conjunction with suture tarsorrhaphy, immobilizes the eyelids and promotes wound healing in patients at risk of wound complications following eyelid reconstruction.

Adult↗

Hydrops and spontaneous perforation in pellucid marginal corneal degeneration.

PURPOSE: Pellucid marginal degeneration of the cornea (1,2) is an idiopathic condition characterized by noninflammatory, nonulcerative thinning of the inferior, peripheral cornea. Occasionally the condition is complicated by acute corneal hydrops (3). We describe a patient with findings suggestive of pellucid marginal corneal degeneration who experienced acute hydrops and spontaneous perforation of the cornea. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of the case was conducted. RESULTS: A 56-year-old woman was seen with decreased vision in the left eye. Clinical findings, including computerized corneal topography, were suggestive of pellucid marginal degeneration. Two weeks later, the patient had hydrops and spontaneous perforation of the left cornea. Medical workup of the patient and histopathologic and microbiologic studies of the corneal specimen revealed no contributory disease process. The patient underwent emergency tectonic lamellar keratoplasty and is doing well after subsequent optical penetrating keratoplasty. CONCLUSION: We believe this is the first report of a case of pellucid marginal degeneration of the cornea complicated by hydrops and perforation.

Cornea↗

Treacher Collins syndrome: phenotypic variability in a family including an infant with arhinia and uveal colobomas.

We report extreme expression of Treacher Collins syndrome in an infant with arhinia, anotia, absent zygomatic bones, hypoplastic mandibular rami, and bilateral coloboma of iris, choroid plexus, and optic nerves. The Treacher Collins phenotype was mildly expressed in the mother and moderately in the sister. The father had no signs and was not ruled out as the father by DNA fingerprinting, thus making homozygosity by descent in the severely affected son very unlikely.

Adult↗

Normal anatomy and lesions of the lacrimal sac and duct: evaluated by dacryocystography, computed tomography, and MR imaging.

Diseases of the lacrimal system are optimally evaluated by dacryocystography, CT, MR imaging, and nuclear scintigraphy. Dacryocystography is selected to define the lumen of the lacrimal drainage system in inflammatory disease (dacryocystitis), dacryoceles, dacryoliths, and developmental abnormalities. Dacryocystography provides supplemental information in benign and malignant tumors, principally to differentiate an intrinsic lesion from an extrinsic lesion. CT is indicated for delineation of palpable mass lesions such as cysts, benign and malignant tumors, and diseases, especially in the paranasal sinuses, affecting the lacrimal apparatus secondarily. MR imaging has limited application but is useful to differentiate fluid from solid masses within the sac and to define tumor extension from the sac into the duct and anatomic regions outside the sac and duct. MR imaging with gadolinium enhancement should be used in suspected tumors and to separate a cyst from a solid mass. Radiologic methods fail to identify the histopathology of benign and malignant tumors. Nuclear scintigraphy is helpful in patients with epiphora with no demonstrable anatomic abnormality on dacryocystography.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

Aneurysmal bone cyst of the orbit associated with fibrous dysplasia.

Aneurysmal bone cyst is a rare but recognized osseous lesion of the orbit. We report the presentation, treatment, and postoperative course of an orbital aneurysmal bone cyst in a patient with McCune-Albright syndrome. To our knowledge, this report represents the first description of aneurysmal bone cyst of the orbit in a patient with fibrous dysplasia. Although visual loss in patients with fibrous dysplasia is most commonly due to narrowing of the optic canal, aneurysmal bone cyst should be considered in a patient with fibrous dysplasia who presents with decreasing vision in the face of a rapidly expanding orbital mass. The treatment in this case was drainage and debridement with prompt resolution. Although not necessary in this case, an alternative treatment includes packing with bone chips. Radiation is usually avoided because of the risk of iatrogenically induced sarcoma.

Adult↗

Endogenous Pseudallescheria boydii endophthalmitis. Clinicopathologic findings in two cases.

Two cases of endogenous Pseudallescheria boydii endophthalmitis are presented. One patient had severe pulmonary fibrosis but no history of ocular trauma and no clinical or laboratory evidence of immunocompromise. Despite therapy with repeated intravitreal miconazole nitrate injections and systemic fluconazole, enucleation of the globe was required, and the patient eventually died with disseminated pseudallescheriasis. The other patient was an immunosuppressed cardiac transplant recipient who also received systemic fluconazole therapy. The infected eye eventually required evisceration, but there was no evidence of disseminated pseudallescheriasis before his death of unrelated causes.

Antifungal Agents↗

Immunopathologic features of retinal lesions in multiple sclerosis.

To further characterize the nature of retinal periphlebitis and retinitis in multiple sclerosis, immunoperoxidase studies were performed on retinal tissue from multiple sclerosis patients at autopsy. Antibodies against myelin basic protein stained the optic nerve but not the retina. Both normal and multiple sclerosis retinas showed staining of Müller cells with Leu-7 (a monoclonal antibody that cross-reacts with myelin associated glycoprotein and natural killer cells). Nerve fiber bundles of the optic nerve in cases with multiple sclerosis and controls also showed staining with Leu-7 antibody. Tissue-bound IgG was demonstrated on retinal ganglion cells in six of seven multiple sclerosis cases but not in controls.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Hepatic dopamine sulfotransferases in untreated rats and in rats subjected to endocrine or hypertension-related treatments.

Here we describe the dopamine sulfotransferase activity of rat liver cytosol. With cytosol, 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate and dopamine Km values were 17.2 +/- 4.1 and 22.4 +/- 3.5 microM. Females possessed 23 to 37% of dopamine sulfotransferase levels, per gm liver, in males. DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography resolved dopamine sulfotransferase activity to dopamine sulfotransferase I and dopamine sulfotransferase II. Dopamine sulfotransferase II comprised 79 +/- 10 or 61 +/- 18% of dopamine sulfotransferase in males or females in routine assays. 4-Methoxytyramine gave 609 or 179% of mean dopamine sulfotransferase activity with dopamine sulfotransferase I or II. Dopamine and 3-methoxytyramine were comparable substrates. Epinephrine was less effective. Mn++, Cd++, Zn++, Na+ and K+ inhibited dopamine sulfotransferase II. Mg++ activated it. Dopamine sulfotransferase II from males was purified 184 +/- 64-fold. Its Km values for 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate and dopamine were 12.7 +/- 1.5 and 47.5 +/- 6.7 microM, respectively. Its dopamine sulfotransferase mechanism was sequential. The molecular weight of dopamine sulfotransferase II was 49,100 +/- 4,000 by Sephadex G-100 chromatography. Dopamine sulfotransferase II preferred phenol to catecholamines. Dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine were its best catecholamine substrates. Adrenalectomy or castration of males led to 35 or 45% mean decreases of dopamine sulfotransferase levels, indicating adrenal and gonadal participation in control of dopamine sulfotransferase production. Testosterone had no effect in either sex, whereas estradiol led to 40% mean decreases of dopamine sulfotransferase levels in males. This suggested a role for ovaries in dopamine sulfotransferase production, supported by 55 to 102% increased dopamine sulfotransferase levels after ovariectomy. Okamoto-hypertensive males or males given hypertensogenic doses of cortisol exhibited 37 or 48% mean increases of dopamine sulfotransferase levels per gm liver. Antihypertensive spironolactone or hydralazine led to 30% mean decreases of dopamine sulfotransferase levels. Altered dopamine sulfotransferase levels after all experimental manipulations were due mostly to changed dopamine sulfotransferase II content. Dopamine sulfotransferase II is compared to other reported enzymes that sulfate catecholamines.

Adrenalectomy↗