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Biomedical subjects

R Sundmacher

Publications and source records attributed to R Sundmacher.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

[Cyclosporin A therapy in severe anterior scleritis. 5 severe courses without verification of associated systemic disease treated with cyclosporin A].

BACKGROUND: Patients with severe scleritis who do not respond to high-dose corticosteroid therapy, or who require a daily corticosteroid maintenance dose higher than 30 mg prednisone should be treated by other immunosuppressants. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In five patients with various types of severe anterior scleritis a long-term high-dose steroid treatment failed to control scleral inflammation. They therefore received cyclosporin (CsA). Follow-up was 16-26 months. RESULTS: Scleral inflammation and ocular complications were controlled in all patients by a regimen of systemic CsA combined with a low maintenance steroid dose below the Cushing threshold. We observed no side effects under CsA serum levels of 120-150 ng/ml. In only one patient was scleral inflammation totally and lastingly eliminated. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic CsA therapy is of definite therapeutic value in the symptomatic management of steroid refractory severe anterior scleritis without associated systemic disease. Complete healing, however, is achieved only in a minority of cases.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Local cyclosporin A in nummuli after keratoconjunctivitis epidemica. A pilot study].

BACKGROUND: Recurrences are common after discontinuing topical steroids against nummular infiltrates following adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis (AK). To avoid the potentially serious side effects of resumed steroid treatment at increased doses we tested topical 2% cyclosporin A (CSA). PATIENTS: We applied four drops of CSA daily to 70 eyes (48 patients) with persistent nummular infiltrates after AK. Treatment began 18.5 months (3-72) after the acute phase of AK. Dose reduction depended on resolution of the nummuli in the individual patients. RESULTS: Of the 70 eyes 40 responded positively to therapy, 16 showed no change, therapy was stopped in 4 because of ocular discomfort (burning), and in 10 eyes follow-up is still less than 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: CSA was effective in eliminating or reducing nummuli in the majority of patients. More than one-half of the responding eyes had a complete cure and did not experience recurrences after stopping therapy. We therefore consider topical CSA to be a safe and effective alternative to topical steroids for treating nummular infiltrates after AK.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Impression and applanation tonometry in irregular corneas. Comparison with intraocular needle tonometry].

PURPOSE: During the past 4 years we have demonstrated in eyes with corneal pathology that applanation tonometry (Goldmann, Perkins) generally delivers falsely low measurements in comparison to intraocular needle tonometry. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether impression tonometry (Schioetz) is more precise than applanation tonometry in determining the intraocular pressure in eyes with corneal disorders. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 75 eyes with suspected glaucoma and various corneal disorders, we performed applanation tonometry and impression tonometry before intraocular needle tonometry. Applanation tonometry was repeated after impression tonometry to unveil a possible tonography effect. Intraocular needle tonometry was performed thereafter. RESULTS: Applanation tonometry results were 4.1 +/- 5.3 mmHg below intraocular pressure as determined by intraocular needle tonometry. Impression tonometry results were also lower: 4.3 +/- 6.8 mmHg (5.5 g), 4.3 +/- 6.4 mmHg (7.5 g), and 4.8 +/- 7.0 mmHg (10.0 g). The differences between applanation tonometry and impression tonometry were statistically not significant. In contrast, all the differences between extraocular tonometry procedures and intraocular needle tonometry were statistically highly significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In corneal pathology both, applanation tonometry and impression tonometry do not deliver reliable results on an average. Only intraocular needle-tonometry delivers reliable results in these eyes.

Corneal Diseases↗
PubMed2000

Black diaphragm aniridia intraocular lens for congenital aniridia: long-term follow-up.

PURPOSE: To present long-term results of implantation of a black diaphragm aniridia intraocular lens (IOL) in eyes with congenital aniridia. SETTING: Eye Hospital, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany. METHODS: Cataract surgery was performed in 19 eyes of 14 patients with congenital aniridia. The black diaphragm aniridia IOL was implanted in front of the capsular bag in the ciliary sulcus. Mean patient age was 30 years (range 10 to 59 years) and mean follow-up, 46 months (range 12 to 84 months). Before surgery, corneal epithelial disorders; corneal pannus; cataract; hypoplasia of the macula, optic nerve, or both; and nystagmus were present in all 19 eyes. Clinically detectable glaucoma was present in 5 eyes. RESULTS: Despite the presence of amblyopia and nystagmus, visual acuity improved in 14 of the 19 eyes. The main postoperative problems were glaucoma deterioration (4 of 19 eyes) or development (4 of 19 eyes), cystoid macular edema (2 of 11 eyes), chronic endothelial cell loss (3 of 11 eyes), and progression of corneal epithelial disorders (4 of 19 eyes). Glaucoma was controlled by medical or surgical therapy in all patients. Intraocular lens explantation was performed in 2 eyes with glaucoma. CONCLUSION: Implantation of the black diaphragm aniridia IOL improved visual acuity in the majority of patients with a variety of endogenous problems in addition to aniridia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

[Operation of the floppy eyelid. Symptomatic cases require surgical eyelid stabilization].

BACKGROUND: Floppy Eyelid is a rare condition causing chronic papillary conjunctivitis and chronic corneal disorders (superficial punctate keratitis, epithelial and stromal ulcers). It is characterized by an extremely enlarged and "floppy" upper eyelid which can be easily everted by slight elevation. Usually obese men are affected who use to sleep face down either on the right or on the left side. Pushing the eyelid against the pillow, the lid is intermittently everted at sleep. This lagophthalmus with rubbing of the exposed eye and lid structures causes all pathologic disorders. Shielding the eye at night may help temporarily. PATIENTS: We performed surgery on 7 men with symptomatic floppy eyelid in the age of 42 to 61 years. The patients had been symptomatic between 1 month and 4 years prior to the definite diagnosis. Follow-up time has been 7 months to 4.5 years. RESULTS: In all cases surgery achieved improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Cases of unclear conjunctival or corneal damage and inflammation should led consider Floppy Eyelid as a possible cause. The typical clinical findings make diagnosis easy. As complete stopping of eyelid-rubbing by changing the patient's sleeping habits is mostly not easily possible, for acute therapy of threatening damages to cornea and conjunctiva a surgical shortening of the lid is necessary which stabilizes the lid in order to avoid nightly spontaneous eversion for a long time.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Sequestrating senile scleral plaque simulating "necrotizing scleritis". Surgical management].

BACKGROUND: Presentation and surgical treatment of a sequestrating senile scleral plaque, a rare clinical disorder. PATIENT: A 76 year-old-female patient presented with foreign body sensation and epiphora. Half a year before, she had first noticed a "black spot" in her eye which had now progressed to a painless yellow-greyish plaque. CASE HISTORY: The patient had previously undergone a steroid-treatment elsewhere with a diagnosis "necrotizing scleritis" without any improvement. We found a yellow-greyish degenerative plaque sequestrating from the surrounding scleral tissue. In order to prevent superinfection and to secure the tissue defect we surgically removed the plaque and covered the remaining thin inner scleral tissue layers with autologous sclera and conjunctiva. The clinical diagnosis of a calcified senile scleral plaque was histologically confirmed. The patient has been free from any symptoms since the operation. To our knowledge this is the first description of surgical removal of a deeply sequestrating senile sceral plaque. CONCLUSION: Calcified sequesters represent a very rare complication of the otherwise frequent senile scleral plaques. Surgical intervention may be required to prevent superinfection and to cover the deep sceral defect. The clinical picture can be distinguished from necrotizing scleritis or scleromalacia perforans. Sequestrating senile scleraplaques do not tend to perforate. They are, however, a risk for infection and chronic inflammation.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Lacrimal gland choristoma of the iris.

Intraocular lacrimal gland tissue is an extremely rare choristoma. A newborn girl was seen with a fleshy, vascular tumor arising from the peripheral iris and the anterior chamber angle. The tumor was treated with topical steroids on suspicion of a juvenile xanthogranuloma; later, it grew slightly and a secondary glaucoma developed. Histopathological examination of the resected tumor showed lacrimal gland tissue in the iris. Twelve cases of intraocular lacrimal gland tissue have been reported in the literature.

Anterior Chamber↗
PubMed1999

Beneficial effect of preoperative mycophenolate mofetil in murine corneal transplantation.

To investigate the effect of preoperative mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) on allograft survival in a murine corneal transplantation model. Corneal grafting was performed from Brown Norway to Lewis rats. Groups were divided as follows: Rats that received syngeneic or allogeneic grafts without therapy served as controls. MMF treatment was either started 7 days prior to transplantation and continued for 14 postoperative days (POD) or started at the day of corneal grafting until POD 14. MMF (20 mg/kg) administered postoperatively had no significant beneficial effect on corneal graft survival when compared with controls. However, the group receiving 40 mg/kg MMF postoperatively showed a statistically significant prolonged graft survival. A 1-week preoperative administration of 20 mg/kg MMF allowed superior graft survival. Priming the immune system of corneal transplant recipients preoperatively with MMF proved to be a beneficial therapeutic regimen for prolonging corneal allograft survival in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

[More than 4 years' experience with electronic intraocular needle tonometry].

BACKGROUND: Applanation tonometry in eyes with pathological corneae can often not be performed or delivers rather questionable results. We report on our 4-year experience with electronic intraocular needle tonometry. PATIENTS AND METHODS: After since 1994 developing and calibrating a system for intraocular needle tonometry, we have performed 395 measurements in 252 eyes with irregular corneae and suspicion of glaucoma. If applanation tonometry values could be obtained, they were compared with the true intraocular pressure. RESULTS: Depending on the kind of corneal pathology, applanation tonometry values were lower and sometimes much lower than true intraocular pressure. No serious complications occurred as a result of intraocular needle tonometry. CONCLUSIONS: Intraocular needle tonometry is a safe procedure and is the only way to measure intraocular pressure precisely in eyes with pathological corneae.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Topical cyclosporin A in Thygeson's superficial punctate keratitis.

BACKGROUND: Since September 1994 we have administered topical cyclosporin A 2% (CSA) in a prospective study to patients with Thygeson's superficial punctate keratitis (TSPK). After our promising short-term results we now present medium-term data of a larger patient group. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Topical CSA was administered to 52 eyes of 28 patients with TSPK. Forty-two were adult eyes (group I), 10 children's eyes (group II). Starting with 3 drops daily during the 1st month, CSA was reduced to 1 drop every 2nd day within 4 months and stopped after 6 months. RESULTS: Complete suppression of the typical epithelial and supepithelial opacities could be achieved in 71.5% of cases in group I and 40% in group II as long as therapy was administered; the other patients responded only partially or not at all. Recurrences were a problem during tapering off or shortly after cessation of therapy, but they could again be treated effectively with the initial CSA regime. Thirty-one percent of all adult eyes and 20% of all pediatric eyes seemed to have completely healed during the observation time. CONCLUSIONS: In more than two thirds of our adult patients topical CSA 2% suppresses the epithelial and subepithelial opacities for as long as this non-steroid therapy is administered. Definite healing seems to be achieved in almost one third of all adult patients. In another one third, long-term low-dose CSA therapy is necessary before complete healing may be expected. Children probably do not respond to therapy as well as adults. Whereas the only therapeutic alternative, i.e. steroid eye drops, have a significant potential for side effects in the long run, no side effects have been known from low-dose CSA eye drops. We regard CSA eye drops as a significant progress in the symptomatic treatment of TSPK.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1999

Cystoid macular edema following immune recovery and treatment with cidofovir for cytomegalovirus retinitis.

BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis is the most common opportunistic ocular infection in AIDS patients. Cidofovir has proved to be highly effective in treatment of CMV retinitis. Iritis and bulbar hypotony are known as the major complications after intravenous and intravitreal use of this antiviral drug. Cystoid macular edema (CME) after intravenous application of cidofovir has not been reported. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively the incidence of CME after intravitreal or intravenous application of cidofovir and its correlation with CD4 cell counts of the patients. RESULTS: Two (22.2%) of 9 eyes in the intravenous and 3 (18.8%) of 16 eyes in the intravitreal injection group developed CME. It occurred between 3 and 48 weeks after cidofovir administration. In all eyes CMV retinitis was inactive. All patients received highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART). CME was correlated with a rapid and sustained improvement in CD4 cell counts. CONCLUSION: We interpret the occurrence of CME as an immune recovery phenomenon for the following reasons. All CMEs were seen in eyes with inactive CMV retinitis and the unaffected contralateral side never developed CME. The time range of appearance between 3 and 48 weeks after cidofovir administration makes direct toxicity of cidofovir unlikely. All patients had a sustained improvement of CD4 cell counts due to HAART. No CME was reported during the use of cidofovir before the HAART era.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1999

Homologous penetrating central limbo-keratoplasty (HPCLK) in bilateral limbal stem cell insufficiency.

PURPOSE: Bilateral stem cell deficiency can be overcome only by keratoplasty plus additional homologous limbal transplantation. We have four years' experience with a new surgical one-stage procedure, homologous penetrating central limbo-keratoplasty (HPCLK). METHODS: A clinical trial was performed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this new method. The first 25 eyes after HPCLK for limbal stem cell deficiency have been followed for more than 12 months. The eccentrically trephined unmatched grafts contained 40% limbus and were transplanted centrally in the host. Systemic cyclosporin A (CSA) was administered for at least one year. Central clear graft survival was the main outcome criterion. RESULTS: 18 grafts failed, mostly because of postoperative surface disorders. Seven grafts have remained centrally clear 12-41 months after HPCLK. CONCLUSIONS: In the majority of the grafts the transplanted limbal stem cells underwent immune destruction. The survival of seven grafts, however, shows that HPCLK is principally a promising new procedure. Further progress can be expected from the use of well HLA-matched grafts instead of unmatched grafts and from further improved systemic immune modulation.

Adolescent↗