Volume 58 · Issue 11 · 2022

This issue focuses on the research progress of glaucoma diagnosis and treatment. The responsible editorial committee responsible for the planning, composition and review of this issue is Professor Sun Xinghuai.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. The reduction of intraocular pressure is the main clinical treatment. Due to the limitations of traditional filter surgery, a variety of minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) procedures have been applied in clinical practice in recent years. Quite a few of them have been carried out in China and achieved good results. At the same time, domestic technology enterprises are actively engaged in the development, innovation and localization of the MIGS equipment. However, there are still some problems in MIGS in China, which need to be paid attention to and require corresponding clinical research, so as to make it a new highlight in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a chronic progressive sight-threatening eye disease, so most patients need long-term or even lifelong medications. The ocular surface diseases caused by the use of topical glaucoma medications seriously affect the treatment compliance, the quality of life, and the treatment effects. In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of topical glaucoma medications-related ocular surface diseases, to improve the ocular surface health of patients and to effectively control the progress of glaucoma, the Glaucoma Group of Ophthalmology Branch of Chinese Medical Association has formulated this consensus after serious consideration and discussion. This evidence-based consensus puts forward suggestions on the characteristics, occurrence mechanism, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and follow-up of ocular surface diseases associated with topical glaucoma medications.

To analyze the proportion and clinical characteristics of underdiagnosed zonulopathy in angle closure glaucoma (ACG) patients and to explore the related risk factors.

Case-control study. Continuous cases of ACG patients who underwent phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation and goniosynechialysis surgery [ACG group, including acute angle closure glaucoma (AACG) and chronic angle closure glaucoma (CACG)] from November 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021 and age-related cataract patients who underwent phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation surgery in the same period (control group) were included. The diagnosis of zonulopathy was determined according to the intraoperative signs such as wrinkles of the anterior capsule during continuous circular capsulorhexis. The proportion of zonulopathy, preoperative diagnosis rate of zonulopathy, demographic characteristics, anterior chamber depth (ACD), axis length, difference of ACD in both eyes (ACD of the contralateral eye minus ACD of the operated eye) were compared between the two groups. The related risk factors were explored. The paired t-test (comparison between two groups of normally distributed data), non-parametric test (comparison between two groups of non-normally distributed data), Chi-square test (categorical variables), univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used.

There were 104 ACG patients (104 eyes), including 63 AACG patients (63 eyes) and 41 CACG patients (41 eyes), and 117 controls (117 eyes). There was no significant difference in age (P=0.29) and gender (P=0.07) between the two groups. The ACG group had shallower anterior chamber (P<0.001), shorter axial length (P<0.001) and more ACD difference in both eyes (P<0.001). In the ACG group, the proportion of zonulopathy was 46.2% (48/104), which was significantly higher than that (6.0%, 7/117) in the control group (P<0.001). In the control group, only zonular laxity was found, while in the ACG group, besides the predominant zonular laxity (68.8%, 33/48), there was zonular dehiscence (31.3%, 15/48). The eyes with AACG (57.1%, 36/63) had a higher proportion of zonulopathy than those with CACG (29.3%, 12/41) (P=0.006). In the ACG group, only 14 cases (29.8%) were diagnosed preoperatively according to slit lamp examination and/or ultrasound biomicroscopy. The proportion of underdiagnosed zonulopathy was 70.8% in the ACG group (34/48). A smaller ACD was found to be related to the zonulopathy in the ACG group. All AACG cases with an ACD ≤2.0 mm and CACG cases with an ACD ≤1.9 mm had zonulopathy. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the ACD difference in both eyes (P=0.025) and the diagnosis of ACG (AACG vs. cataract, P<0.001; CACG vs. cataract, P=0.023) were independent risk factors associated with zonulopathy.

The proportion of underdiagnosed zonulopathy among ACG patients is high. Better preoperative diagnostic methods for zonulopathy are needed. Zonulopathy is common in ACG patients, especially in AACG patients, suggesting that zonulopathy may be related to the pathogenesis of ACG. The shallower the ACD, the riskier the zonulopathy. ACD differences between two eyes and ACG types (including AACG and CACG) were related risk factors of zonulopathy.(This article was published ahead of print on the Online-First Publishing Platform for Excellent Scientific Researches of Chinese Medical Association Publishing House on March 11, 2022)

To report the incidence and time distribution of early transient intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation after penetrating canaloplasty.

Retrospective case series study. Data of patients treated by penetrating canaloplasty for glaucoma in the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from June 2015 to March 2020 were collected. Early transient IOP elevation was defined as an increase of IOP to over 21 mmHg on the first week to the third month after surgery followed by a decrease to 21 mmHg or less within 3 months. Main outcome measures included IOP, quantity of medication use, the occurrence time and duration of IOP elevation. Generalized estimating equations were used for statistical analysis, and measurement data with non-normal distribution was represented as M (Q₁, Q₃).

A total of 277 patients (315 eyes) achieved 360-degree catheterization of the canal successfully, and 299 eyes (94.9%) completed the postoperative 6-month follow-up. Thirty-four eyes (10.8%) had persistently high IOP, so the surgical treatment failed in them. Consequently, 234 patients (265 eyes) were enrolled in the analyses, including 161 males (184 eyes) and 73 females (81 eyes). The median age was 42 (26, 54) years, the mean preoperative IOP was (37.7±11.1) mmHg, and the mean number of drugs used was 3 (2, 4). The incidence of early transient IOP elevation was 43.0% (114/265) in all enrolled eyes, 42.7% (35/82) in eyes with primary open angle glaucoma, 37.8% (17/45) in eyes with primary angle closure glaucoma, 27.7% (13/47) in eyes with congenital glaucoma and 53.8% (49/91) in eyes with secondary glaucoma. The IOP began to increase on the first to fourth week in 91.2% (104/114) of eyes with early transient IOP elevation and reached the peak [21.3 mmHg to 54.8 mmHg; mean, (32.4±8.2) mmHg] in 88.6% (101/114) on the first to fifth week after surgery. The IOP elevation lasted for no more than 4 weeks in 69.3% (79/114) of eyes.

Over 40.0% of patients with penetrating canaloplasty may experience postoperative transient IOP elevation. The incidence is relatively high in secondary glaucoma but low in congenital glaucoma. Most of the elevations and peak IOP occur within 1-4 weeks after surgery.

To investigate the changes in the types of anti-glaucoma eye drops and daily treatment costs in 2021 compared with 2006 in China.

The information of the main anti-glaucoma eye drops in 2021 was obtained from the database of Yaozhi.com. The daily cost of each eye drop was calculated by recording the number of drops in a single bottle and pricing in the national market, and the corresponding information of anti-glaucoma eye drops collected in 2006 was compared. Based on the income of Chinese residents in 2006 and 2021, the proportion of the daily cost of anti-glaucoma eye drops in the annual income of residents was analyzed. Results There were 32 kinds of anti-glaucoma eye drops in 2021, and the daily cost was 0.34 to 16.00 yuan. The daily cost is 0.34 to 6.77 yuan after removing the single-dose package. The number of drugs in 2021 was significantly higher than that in 2006 (16). In 2021, prostaglandins accounted for the highest proportion of 31.25%. There was a significant increase in the number of generic drugs, fixed formulations and preservative-free single-dose packages. In 2021, the price of imported drugs was significantly reduced, with the daily cost falling by 29.28% to 53.78% compared with 2006. In 2021, the daily cost of the most expensive drugs accounted for 12.32% and 30.85% of the daily income of urban and rural residents, respectively (5.21% and 13.05% after removing single-dose packaged drugs), which were significantly lower than 37.46% and 122.79% in 2006. Conclusions Compared with 2006, the variety of anti-glaucoma eye drops increased significantly in 2021, and the daily treatment cost and the proportion of daily income were significantly reduced.

To evaluate the prevalence and relevant factors of primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) in the middle-aged and elderly (40 years old and above) Chinese population.

Epidemiological literature (of English and/or Chinese language) on prevalence of PACG in China between 2000 and 2022 were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang database. Two researchers conducted the process of document retrieval, inclusion, quality assessment and data extraction independently based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Disagreement was resolved by consensus with a third researcher. The heterogeneity among studies was assessed by using the I² statistics, and a corresponding model was used for the meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis (gender, age, survey date, place of residence, diagnostic criteria, and temperature zone), as well as sensitivity analysis and publication bias analysis, were conducted.

Twenty-three studies were included in this research. Among them, eight were of high-quality and fifteen were of middle-quality. In the past 20 years, the PACG prevalence in middle-aged and elderly (40 years and older) Chinese population was 1.35% (95%CI:1.08% to 1.61%). Chinese women (1.40%) were more likely to have PACG than men (0.96%, P<0.01). The PACG prevalence had a positive correlation with age (P<0.01). The prevalence was similar between urban (1.3%) and rural (1.2%, P=0.61) areas. The PACG prevalence from studies in which the diagnostic criteria of PACG requested the symptom of vision or optic nerve damage (1.1%) was lower than that those without such requirement (1.7%, P<0.01). In mid-temperate zone, the prevalence was higher (1.7%, P=0.02).

The PACG prevalence in middle-aged and elderly (40 years old and above) Chinese population was 1.35% in the last 20 years. The prevalence of PACG varies across age, regions, and other variations. This risk is higher in the elderly, women, and people in cold regions among Chinese population.

To discuss the efficacy and safety of orthokeratology with increased compression factor (ICF) in myopia correction in children.

It was a prospective cohort study. Data of the right eyes of myopic children who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College for orthokeratology were collected continuously from May 2016 to Dec 2018. All children had low myopia (<3.00 D) or moderate myopia (≥3.00 D), and were grouped using random numbers in Excel to receive orthokeratology with ICF or conventional compression factor (CCF). The axial length (AL), spherical equivalent (SE), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), near visual acuity (NVA), Efron grade, corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), corneal-compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc), tear film break-up time (BUT), higher-order aberrations (HOAs), accommodative amplitude (AA) and accommodative facility (AF) were compared between groups during the 1-year treatment period. The Chi-squared test was used to compare the categorical data, while the independent-sample t-test was performed to assess the measurement data.

After 1 year of treatment, there were no statistical differences in AL, SE, BCVA, NVA, Efron grade, CH, CRF, IOPcc, BUT, HOAs, AA and AF between the low myopia ICF group and the low myopia CCF group (all P>0.05). After 6 months of treatment, the AL increased by (0.05±0.03) mm in the moderate myopia ICF group and by (0.08±0.04) mm in the moderate myopia CCF group (t=-3.416, P=0.001). After 1 year of treatment, the AL increased by (0.12±0.04) mm in the moderate myopia ICF group and by, (0.16±0.05) mm in the moderate myopia CCF group (t=-4.017, P<0.001). The SE was (-0.16±0.40) D in the moderate myopia ICF group, significantly different from that in the moderate myopia CCF group [(-0.58±0.60) D; t=3.529, P=0.001]. There were also statistical differences in HOAs_, spherical aberrations and AF (all P<0.05), but no statistical differences in BCVA, NVA, Efron grade, CH, CRF, IOPcc, BUT and AA between the two groups (all P>0.05).

Orthokeratology with ICF safely and effectively corrected myopia in children during the observation period. It could control the progression of moderate myopia more effectively than that of low myopia.

A patient complained of progressive visual acuity decline in the left eye for 3 years was admitted. The appearance of the patient was bilateral microcornea. After ocular ultrasonography, ultrasound biomicroscopy, etc, the patient was diagnosed as sclerocornea of the left eye with open-angle glaucoma. Trabeculectomy of the left eye was performed after drug treatment failed, and there were no surgical complications. The intraocular pressure of the left eye was normal and the anterior chamber was well formed 6 months after surgery.

A 66-year-old woman presented with recurrent erythema, swelling and pain in her right eye. She had a history of extraction of the right upper second molar 5 months ago with subsequent development of an abscess which was incised and drained 4 months ago. Orbital CT scan revealed the formation of subperiosteal sinus cavity with an abscess in the right maxillary sinus and infraorbital foramen. The diagnosis was orbital honeycombing caused by odontogenic maxillary sinus septum infection. Utilizing the anterior lacrimal recess approach under nasal endoscope,incision and drainage of ocular abscess and debridement and drainage of right orbital abscess plus partial resection of the inner wall of the jaw were performed successfully with maxillary sinus septal drainage and maxillary sinus opening. The patient improved significantly after the operation.

A child complained of bilateral congenital non-progressive ptosis for 18 months. According to the clinical characteristics, systemic development and chromosome microarray analysis, the child was diagnosed as 2q37 deletion syndrome related ophthalmo facial malformation. The patient underwent the frontalis aponeurosis flap suspension. After operation, the appearance of eyelids was significantly improved.

A 54-month-old female patient presented to the department of ophthalmology with abnormal head posture and facial asymmetry for two years. The patient′s facial development was asymmetrical, with the middle 1/3 of the left side shorter than the right side. The left ear is less malformed than the right. There was no obvious abnormality in corneal light reflex and eye movement. Head tilt test ( -). So, paralysis of the superior oblique muscle was excluded. In consultation with the department of maxillofacial surgery, the patient was confirmed as the first and second branchial arch syndrome and torticollis.

A 53-year-old female patient complained of 1 week of bilateral visual blurring. She was previously diagnosed with metastatic melanoma of the inguinal lymph nodes and treated with the oral targeted drug vemurafenib. She exhibited aqueous flare in the left eye, and her fundus examination revealed optic disc swelling in the left eye and bilateral serious detachment of the retinal neuroepithelial layer. Fluorescein angiography showed multiple pinpoint hyperfluorescence leakage spots in the prometaphase and appeared as multilobular dye pooling in the late phase. We diagnosed her as Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome and gave glucocorticoid treatment for eyes. Oral vemurafenib was also taken intermittently under the guidance of an oncologist. After treatment, her bilateral vision improved, the anterior segment inflammation disappeared, and the retinal neuroepithelial layer reattached, with presence of the "sunset glow" fundus.

A 16-year-old male patient had poor binocular vision, alternating exotropia, horizontal nystagmus, and no obvious pigmentation loss in the eyes and other parts of the body. Optical coherence tomographic examination showed no normal central macular depression. The three-channel flash visual evoked potential method was used to examine each eye. The left and right channel reactions were found to be significantly asymmetric, and the clinical diagnosis was ocular albinism.

A family with nanophthalmos was genetically investigated. The proband of this family was a 34-year-old male, who was diagnosed as binocular glaucoma two years ago and was admitted to Beijing Tongren Eye Center due to impaired vision in his right eye for 2 months. The intraocular pressure was controlled with two anti-glaucoma medications, the range of the angle closure was>300 degrees, and the cup-disk ratio was significantly increased in both eyes. The axial length of the right and left eyes was 17.45 mm and 17.36 mm, respectively. A heterozygous missense variant of the TMEM98 gene was detected by gene sequencing (C. 602G>C, P.R201p). Both eyes were diagnosed with nanophthalmos and secondary angle-closure glaucoma. The father of the proband was found to carry a homozygous variant in the same gene, while the daughter of the proband carried the same heterozygous variant as the proband. Both of them were diagnosed as binocular nanophthalmos in combination with clinical manifestations.

A highly myopic patient complained of 2 months of visual acuity loss and 4 months of ocular pain in the right eye after 16 years after bilateral cataract extraction. The slit lamp microscopy examination showed a residual lens capsule dislocation in the right anterior chamber of the eye, which was diagnosed as a residual lens capsule dislocation in the right eye. After diagnosis and timely treatment, the patient′s postoperative vision and visual field recovered well.

An 8-year-old male patient was admitted to ophthalmology for bilateral progressive blurred vision for 5 years. He had a history of multiple spontaneous fractures. Ocular examination revealed best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 0.5 in the right eye and 0.6 in the left eye. Slitlamp examination showed bilateral blue sclerae, thining of the entire cornea and corneal ectasia. General physical examination demonstrated multi-site ligamentous laxity. The diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfacta was made. The patient was advised to wear rigid gas permeable contact lens with large diameter and stabilized peripheral curve, and the BCVA achieved 0.8 for both eyes.

A case of keratitis caused by microsporidia infection was reported. A 57-year-old female patient, without any obvious predisposing cause, presented with eye redness, eye abrasion and vision loss for one year in the left eye. The patient was diagnosed with viral keratitis based on laboratory examinations and clinical symptoms two months ago in our hospital. He was given outpatient treatment for antivirus. Two months later, he was admitted to our hospital with worsened condition that presented with corneal ulcer. After admission, corneal scraping examination was performed for the detection of microsporidia with calcofluor white (CFW) and Ziehl-Neelsen staining, the smear revealed multiple oval spore-like structures, with acid-fast positive and showed blue fluorescence on potassium hydroxide with CFW stain, confirming a diagnosis of microsporidial keratitis in the left eye. Treatment: topical use of ofloxacin eye ointment and voriconazole eye drops was not effective, and then penetrating keratoplasty was performed, and the patient′s condition was stable after surgery. At present, they are still in treatment and follow-up.

Presbyopia is a physiological aging situation that the plasticity and elasticity of the lens and the function of the ciliary muscle become weaker, resulting in a decreased accommodation and inability to focus on near objects. Nowadays, there are many clinical strategies to correct presbyopia, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages, however, there is no true sense of way to restore accommodation function. This article reviews both worldwide and domestic research on presbyopia, and analyzes and summaries the status quo as well as research progress of presbyopia correction modalities, surgical approaches, and drug therapies, hoping to provide a reference for clinical works.

With the expansion of human exploration and activities, increasing people work and live in special natural environments with relatively unique characteristics, which can not only lead to pathophysiological changes and metabolic disorders, but also have a great impact on eyes and intraocular pressure (IOP). This article reviews the effects of the high-altitude hypoxia environment, space microgravity environment, deep water environment, dark environment, cold environment and ambient air pollution on IOP, and discusses the mechanisms of related IOP changes.

Glaucoma is a kind of optic nerve degenerative disease characterized by both depressed atrophy of optic nerve and visual field defect. In Asia, the number of patients with primary Angle closure glaucoma (PACG) is increasing year by year, posing serious impact on the life quality of patients. Angle closure is the pathogenic basis of PACG. Early identification of the risk factors for Angle closure and control on its progression are crucial to the prognosis of PACG. With the continuous in-depth study of the iris in recent years, it has been found that the changes in iris volume are also important dynamic risk factor for PACG. This paper summarizes the latest research results of both domestic and overseas, describes and summarizes the histology, biological characteristics, surface features, vascular configuration and genomics of the iris, and further analyzes the role of iris characteristics in angle closure in details, in order to provide a reference for the clinical diagnosis and research work.

Congenital cataract is one of the main causes of blindness in children. Glaucoma-related adverse event (GRAE) is a serious complication of congenital cataract extraction. Its occult onset can cause irreversible damage to the optic nerve, its related factors are, however, not clear. In recent years, with the deepening of research, we have a more comprehensive understanding of the risk factors of glaucoma-related adverse events. This paper summarizes in detail the impact of its risk factors: ocular anatomical features, surgical design, other ocular and systemic diseases on GRAE, and systematically summarizes its diagnostic criteria, treatment and prognosis, in order to provide a comprehensive reference of research-related factors affecting GRAE after cataract surgery and indication for the vacancy in scientific research and to establish a prediction model for the incidence of postoperative GRAE based on the analysis of influencing factors, and precisely predict the prognosis of children after surgery cataract in clinical aspect.

Demyelinating optic neuritis coexisting with seropositive aquaporin-4 antibody or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody is different from the typical optic neuritis in immunopathological, clinical and radiological features, as well as therapeutic response. Due to the high recurrence rate and the potential risk of blindness, immunosuppressive therapy is warranted in most cases. The current review tracks and summarizes both the update and the potential controversies of B cell depletion therapy with a special focus on rituximab for demyelinating optic neuritis to optimize clinical decision-making.

Uveal melanoma, as the most common intraocular malignant tumor in adults, has poor overall survival after metastasis. In recent years, next-generation sequencing technology has been increaingly applied in studying the genetic characteristics of diseases. From the perspectives of genome, epigenome, and transcriptome, this review summed up the genomics mutation, epigenomics regulation mechanism, and immune transcriptomic profiling of uveal melanoma in the context of next-generation sequencing technologies, especially chromosome copy number variation, gene mutation and DNA methylation.

Ocular cardiac reflex (OCR) usually occurs in ophthalmic surgery, especially in extraocular muscle(s) surgery. OCR generally can cause sinus bradycardia, arrhythmia, reduced atrial pressure, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular doublet, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms. Severe cases will appear cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, etc. Recent studies on the mechanism of OCR and the relationship between surgical operation and anaesthesia in extraocular muscle surgery and the occurrence of OCR are reviewed in this paper in order to reduce the occurrence of OCR and treatment of OCR in extraocular muscle surgery.

The capsular tension ring (CTR) can stabilize the capsule, support the lax zonules, and inhibit the proliferation and migration of lens epithelial cells. Clinically, CTR is mostly used in patients with zonular weakness, which can improve the stability of intraocular lens (IOL) and reduce the incidence of posterior capsular opacity (PCO). The relatively large capsular bag volume, zonular weakness in cataract patients with high myopia may increase the instability of IOL and PCO. Therefore, many clinicians have implanted CTR in cataract patients with high myopia. In this review, we summarized the application of CTR in cataract patients with high myopia.

After cataract extraction, surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) may occur due to the surgical incisions, especially when using clear corneal incisions, which may lead to different degrees of corneal astigmatism and affect postoperative visual quality. How to control SIA and improve the accuracy of SIA calculation is of great value to guide preoperative planning. In this article, the etiology and calculation methodologies of SIA in cataract surgery were reviewed, aiming to provide a reference for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cataract refractive surgery.

Accommodative convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio is an important concept in strabismus and amblyopia. Although AC/A ratio is a commonly used clinical index, most ophthalmologists do not have a thorough understanding of it, and there may be some deviations in its empirical application. In this paper, we reviewed the normal range, measuring method, classification, influencing factors and clinical application value of AC/A, aiming to provide the basis for the application of AC/A ratio in physical check-up of normal population, disease evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of strabismus patients.