Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment with a High Risk of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy Treated with Episcleral Surgery and an Intravitreal Dexamethasone 0.7-mg Implant

Purpose

To report a case of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with a high risk of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) effectively treated with episcleral surgery and an intravitreal dexamethasone 0.7-mg implant.

Methods

A 35-year-old Caucasian man with a macula-off rhegmatogenous subtotal retinal detachment that had persisted for 1 month in his myopic left eye presented several risk factors that could have led to the development of PVR after retinal detachment surgery. His best corrected visual acuity was hand motion. He received an intravitreal dexamethasone 0.7-mg implant (Ozurdex^®) after episcleral surgery to prevent this complication.

Results

At least 9 months after surgery, no sign of PVR or pucker has developed in the treated eye. Visual acuity improved to 0.2, the retina was attached and no complications were observed.

Conclusion

Intravitreal dexamethasone 0.7-mg implant (Ozurdex) could be considered as off-label treatment following episcleral surgery to prevent PVR.Key words: Retinal detachment, Dexamethasone 0.7 mg, Ozurdex^®, Proliferative vitreoretinopathy, Episcleral surgery     

Radiation Macular Edema after Ru-106 Plaque Brachytherapy for Choroidal Melanoma Resolved by an Intravitreal Dexamethasone 0.7-mg Implant

Purpose

To report the effective treatment of radiation macular edema following ruthenium-106 plaque brachytherapy for a choroidal melanoma with a dexamethasone 0.7-mg (Ozurdex^®) intravitreal implant.

Methods

An interventional case report with optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans.

Results

A 65-year-old Caucasian woman was suffering from radiation macular edema following ruthenium-106 plaque brachytherapy for a choroidal melanoma on her left eye. She had undergone one intravitreal injection of 0.5 mg bevacizumab (Avastin^®, Genentech/Roche) in the following months without functional or anatomical improvement. Seven months after the development of radiation macular edema, she received a single intravitreal injection of dexamethasone 0.7 mg (Ozurdex). Four weeks following the injection, her best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.3 to 0.5. Radiation macular edema resolved with a reduction of central retinal thickness from 498 μm before Ozurdex injection to 224 μm after Ozurdex injection, as measured by OCT scan.

Conclusion

Dexamethasone 0.7 mg (Ozurdex) has proven to be an effective treatment option in retinal vein occlusion and noninfectious uveitis. It can also be considered as off-label treatment in radiation macular edema following ruthenium-106 plaque brachytherapy for a choroidal melanoma.Key Words: Choroidal melanoma, Ru-106 plaque, Macular edema, Dexamethasone 0.7 mg, Ozurdex^®     

Adenine arabinoside monophosphate and acyclovir monophosphate coupled to lactosaminated albumin reduce woodchuck hepatitis virus viremia at doses lower than do the unconjugated drugs.

The woodchuck was selected to study the efficacy of liver-targeted antiviral drugs on hepadnavirus replication. Nineteen woodchucks chronically infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus were treated with adenine arabinoside monophosphate or acyclovir monophosphate, either free or conjugated with the liver-targeting molecule lactosaminated human serum albumin. Circulating woodchuck hepatitis virus DNA levels remained unchanged in untreated animals and in those receiving the carrier lactosaminated human serum albumin alone; in contrast, they were consistently lower after 5 days of treatment with the antiviral drugs. Free and conjugated adenine arabinoside monophosphate were active at doses of 10 and 0.75 mg/kg, respectively, and free and coupled ACVMP were active at doses of 20 and 2.6 mg/kg, respectively. These results indicate that the dosages of adenine arabinoside monophosphate and acyclovir monophosphate required to inhibit hepadnavirus growth can be sharply reduced by coupling the drugs to lactosaminated human serum albumin.     

Metalloporphyrin electropolymerization: electrochemical quartz crystal microgravimetric studies

The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) study of several metalloprotoporphyrin (MPP) deposition (Ni(II)PP, Cu(II)PP, Co(II)PP, Zn(II)PP, Fe(III)PP) on gold surfaces from dichloromethane solution is reported. The QCM mass–time evolution during film deposition has shown for all porphyrins studied a monotonic film growth during the positive voltammetric scan which is consistent with the accepted vinyl cation electropolymerization (EP) mechanism [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 105 (1983) 5601]. Quartz crystal impedance at 10 MHz has shown that NiPP, CuPP, ZnPP and FePP films dissipate the acoustic wave much less, rendering acoustically thinner films than a CoPP film that behaves as a loose viscoelastic film. For the former acoustically thin films, gravimetry was possible; unlike CoPP films where the viscoelastic properties are dominant at 10 MHz. Comparison of the redox charge and QCM mass demonstrates that homogeneous chemical reactions coupled to the electroinitiation of vinyl cations should take place, and therefore the application of the Faraday Law to estimate the polymer mass from the oxidation charge is precluded. The optimal EP conditions to deposit single and mixed films are also described.