Outcome in refractive accommodative esotropia. (1/164)

AIM: To examine outcome among children with refractive accommodative esotropia. METHODS: Children with accommodative esotropia associated with hyperopia were included in the study. The features studied were ocular alignment, amblyopia, and the response to treatment, binocular single vision, requirement for surgery, and the change in refraction with age. RESULTS: 103 children with refractive accommodative esotropia were identified. Mean follow up was 4.5 years (range 2-9.5 years). 41 children (39.8%) were fully accommodative (no manifest deviation with full hyperopic correction). The remaining 62 children (60.2%) were partially accommodative. At presentation 61.2% of children were amblyopic in one eye decreasing to 15.5% at the most recent examination. Stereopsis was demonstrated in 89.3% of children at the most recent examination. Mean cycloplegic refraction (dioptres, spherical equivalent) remained stable throughout the follow up period. The mean change in refraction per year was 0.005 dioptres (D) in right eyes (95% CL -0. 0098 to 0.02) and 0.001 D in left eyes (95% CL -0.018 to 0.021). No patients were able to discard their glasses and maintain alignment. CONCLUSIONS: Most children with refractive accommodative esotropia have an excellent outcome in terms of visual acuity and binocular single vision. Current management strategies for this condition result in a marked reduction in the prevalence of amblyopia compared with the prevalence at presentation. The degree of hyperopia, however, remains unchanged with poor prospects for discontinuing glasses wear. The possibility that long term full time glasses wear impedes emmetropisation must be considered. It is also conceivable, however, that these children may behave differently with normal and be predestined to remain hyperopic.  (+info)

Pharmacological mydriasis and optic disc examination. (2/164)

AIM: To determine whether pharmacological mydriasis leads to a significant difference in interobserver agreement of optic disc measurement compared with examination without mydriasis. METHOD: A cross sectional study was performed with a pair of observers examining the optic disc of two randomised groups of patients, one group before diagnostic mydriasis, and the other afterwards. Horizontal and vertical disc diameters and cup/disc ratios were measured with a 78 dioptre lens. The study was repeated with another observer pair and two further groups of patients. RESULTS: In study A 86 subjects were examined in total (52 without and 34 with mydriasis). In study B 87 subjects were examined (45 without and 42 with mydriasis). The 95% limits of agreement of the cup/disc ratio measurement differences were significantly larger without mydriasis (p<0.001 for all studies (F test)). For both studies examination after mydriasis gave significantly greater agreement for vertical and horizontal cup/disc ratios. The cases with good agreement (0.1 difference or better) for vertical cup/disc ratios were 37/52 (72%) and 34 /45 (76%) without mydriasis and 33/34 (97%) and 40/42 (95%) respectively with mydriasis. Similar differences were recorded for horizontal cup/disc ratios. Disc diameter measurement results showed similar differences in study A but were not affected by mydriasis in study B. CONCLUSIONS: Examination of the optic disc without pharmacological mydriasis gives significantly poorer interobserver agreement. In this study, the mean 95% limits of agreement values for all cup/disc ratio values were 0.27 for examination without mydriasis and 0.13 for examination with mydriasis. A measure outside these limits would suggest a real difference. This study indicates that mydriasis is important for reproducible clinical examination in glaucoma.  (+info)

Factors affecting pupil size after dilatation: the Twin Eye Study. (3/164)

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Well dilated pupils make eye surgery easier. A classic twin study was established to examine the relative importance of genes and environment in the variance of pupil size after mydriasis, and to examine the effects of other factors such as age, iris colour, and refractive error. METHODS: 506 twin pairs, 226 monozygotic (MZ) and 280 dizygotic (DZ), aged 49-79 (mean age 62.2 years, SD 5.7) were examined. Dilated pupil size was measured using a standardised grid superimposed over digital retroillumination images taken 50-70 minutes after mydriasis using tropicamide 1% and phenylephrine 10%. Univariate maximum likelihood model fitting was used to estimate genetic and environmental variance components. RESULTS: Dilated pupil size was more highly correlated in MZ compared with DZ twins (intraclass correlation coefficients 0.82 and 0.39 respectively). A model specifying additive genetic and unique environmental factors showed the best fit to the data, yielding a heritability of 78-80%. Individual environmental factors explained 18-19% of the variance in this population. Age only accounted for 2-3% of the variance and refractive error and iris colour did not significantly contribute to the variance. CONCLUSIONS: Pupil size after mydriasis is largely genetically determined, with a heritability of up to 80%.  (+info)

Probing peripheral and central cholinergic system responses. (4/164)

OBJECTIVE: The pharmacological response to drugs that act on the cholinergic system of the iris has been used to predict deficits in central cholinergic functioning due to diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, yet correlations between central and peripheral responses have not been properly studied. This study assessed the effect of normal aging on (1) the tropicamide-induced increase in pupil diameter, and (2) the reversal of this effect with pilocarpine. Scopolamine was used as a positive control to detect age-dependent changes in central cholinergic functioning in the elderly. DESIGN: Randomized double-blind controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: Ten healthy elderly (mean age 70) and 9 young (mean age 33) volunteers. INTERVENTIONS: Pupil diameter was monitored using a computerized infrared pupillometer over 4 hours. The study involved 4 sessions. In 1 session, tropicamide (20 microL, 0.01%) was administered to one eye and placebo to the other. In another session, tropicamide (20 microL, 0.01%) was administered to both eyes, followed 23 minutes later by the application of pilocarpine (20 microL, 0.1%) to one eye and placebo to the other. All eye drops were given in a randomized order. In 2 separate sessions, a single dose of scopolamine (0.5 mg, intravenously) or placebo was administered, and the effects on word recall were measured using the Buschke Selective Reminding Test over 2 hours. OUTCOME MEASURES: Pupil size at time points after administration of tropicamide and pilocarpine; scopolamine-induced impairment in word recall. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between elderly and young volunteers in pupillary response to tropicamide at any time point (p > 0.05). The elderly group had a significantly greater pilocarpine-induced net decrease in pupil size 85, 125, 165 and 215 minutes after administration, compared with the young group (p < 0.05). Compared with the young group, the elderly group had greater scopolamine-induced impairment in word recall 60, 90 and 120 minutes after administration (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There is an age-related pupillary response to pilocarpine that is not found with tropicamide. Thus, pilocarpine may be useful to assess variations in central cholinergic function in elderly patients.  (+info)

A rapid method for measuring miotic activity of drugs in the intact mouse eye. (5/164)

A rapid and precise method for evaluating the miotic activity of cholinergic drugs has been developed based on Long's method for measuring the rate of mydriasis. The rate of reversal of mydriasis developed previously in the intact mouse eye by a mild mydriatic (phenycyclidine) is used to evaluate the miotic activity. The method provides a useful tool for measuring and comparing the miotic activity of acetylcholine agonists and cholinesterase inhibitors.  (+info)

Evaluation of potentiating effect of a drop of lignocaine on tropicamide-induced mydriasis. (6/164)

PURPOSE: To analyze whether preinstillation of lignocaine potentiates mydriasis by tropicamide in dark eyes and to determine possible mechanisms for this effect. METHODS: This investigation was conducted in two phases, the first being a double-masked, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial, enrolling 60 healthy dark brown eyes in 30 subjects aged 7 to 58 years. The control eye received a drop of (nonlignocaine) placebo before tropicamide 1%, and the contralateral study eye received a 4% lignocaine drop 3-minutes before the 1 drop of tropicamide was administered. A ruled pupillometer recorded pupil diameters every 10 minutes for 50 minutes. In phase II, to elucidate pathomechanisms after lignocaine, corneal and tear parameters were compared with baseline records in a further 60 such eyes. RESULTS: Pupillary diameters in the study eyes increased by 3.62 +/- 0.75 mm, significantly more than in the placebo (control) group (P = 0.000). Ninety percent of study eyes attained the clinically significant 6-mm size with preinstillation of lignocaine-many more than the 67% of control eyes (P = 0.016). The median time to achieve this critical 6-mm size was significantly faster in the study group (P = 0.005). In phase II, the 1 drop 4% lignocaine did not show corneal changes with slit lamp or fluorescein staining and did not reduce media clarity or induce a significant change in tear pH. It markedly decreased Schirmer values (P = 0.000), reduced tear break-up time (P = 0.003), and increased corneal thickness measured by optical pachymetry (P = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: The phase II findings indicate corneal microepithelial damage and reduced tearing. Both may enhance intraocular penetration and hence potentiation of tropicamide. This remarkable phenomenon could find use with many other important topical medications.  (+info)

Tropicamide (1%): an effective cycloplegic agent for myopic children. (7/164)

PURPOSE: To evaluate the cycloplegic effect of 1% tropicamide in myopic children and to determine whether its efficacy is associated with age, gender, iris color, ethnicity, magnitude of the refractive error, or latent error. METHODS: Four hundred sixty-nine children enrolled in the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET; a multicenter, randomized, double-masked clinical trial evaluating the rate of progression of juvenile-onset myopia in children wearing progressive-addition versus single-vision lenses) were given 1 drop of proparacaine in each eye followed 1 minute later by 1 drop of 1% tropicamide and then a second drop of 1% tropicamide 4 to 6 minutes later. Five accommodative responses to 20/100 letters located at 4 m and 33 cm were obtained in each eye with an autorefractor, 20 minutes after the second drop. Residual accommodation was calculated as the difference between the mean spherical equivalent responses obtained at the two distances. An examiner graded iris color, and ethnicity was reported by the children's parents or guardians. RESULTS: The mean residual accommodation was small: 0.38 +/- 0.41 diopters (D) in the right eye and 0.30 +/- 0.41 D in the left eye. Small but statistically significant differences in residual accommodation were associated with ethnicity, but not with any of the other factors. CONCLUSIONS: Tropicamide (1%) is an effective cycloplegic agent in myopic children.  (+info)

Action spectrum for melatonin regulation in humans: evidence for a novel circadian photoreceptor. (8/164)

The photopigment in the human eye that transduces light for circadian and neuroendocrine regulation, is unknown. The aim of this study was to establish an action spectrum for light-induced melatonin suppression that could help elucidate the ocular photoreceptor system for regulating the human pineal gland. Subjects (37 females, 35 males, mean age of 24.5 +/- 0.3 years) were healthy and had normal color vision. Full-field, monochromatic light exposures took place between 2:00 and 3:30 A.M. while subjects' pupils were dilated. Blood samples collected before and after light exposures were quantified for melatonin. Each subject was tested with at least seven different irradiances of one wavelength with a minimum of 1 week between each nighttime exposure. Nighttime melatonin suppression tests (n = 627) were completed with wavelengths from 420 to 600 nm. The data were fit to eight univariant, sigmoidal fluence-response curves (R(2) = 0.81-0.95). The action spectrum constructed from these data fit an opsin template (R(2) = 0.91), which identifies 446-477 nm as the most potent wavelength region providing circadian input for regulating melatonin secretion. The results suggest that, in humans, a single photopigment may be primarily responsible for melatonin suppression, and its peak absorbance appears to be distinct from that of rod and cone cell photopigments for vision. The data also suggest that this new photopigment is retinaldehyde based. These findings suggest that there is a novel opsin photopigment in the human eye that mediates circadian photoreception.  (+info)