Publications by authors named "Eduardo C de Souza"

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the value of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in assessing patients with diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis (DUSN).

Methods: This was an observational case series with clinical imaging correlation performed at the Retina and Vitreous Institute of Londrina and State University of Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. The series comprised ten consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of DUSN, ie, seven patients with late-stage disease and three with early-stage disease, who were assessed by SD-OCT for mean macular, retinal nerve fiber layer, and choroidal thickness using enhanced depth imaging software.

Results: Comparing the affected eye with the healthy fellow eye, significant diffuse atrophy of the retinal layers with a decrease in mean macular (P=0.004) and retinal nerve fiber layer (P=0.002) thickness was found in all cases. There was no difference in choroidal thickness (P=0.262).

Conclusion: The correlation of SD-OCT results with central vision and funduscopic findings may explain the profound loss of visual function in patients with DUSN.

Purpose: To document the intraretinal migration of presumed toxocara larvae mimicking punctate inner choroidopathy, idiopathic choroidal neovascularization, and diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis.

Methods: Sequential color photographs, fluorescein angiograms, and optical coherence tomography were performed in three unrelated adult patients with presumed ocular toxocariasis.

Results: Characteristic fundoscopic manifestations simulating punctate inner choroidopathy, idiopathic choroidal neovascularization, and diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis were reported in these patients, respectively.

Conclusion: Presumed toxocara larvae must be included as a potential cause of different inflammatory diseases as a result of its migration through the retinal layers.

Cavernous hemangioma of the retina is an unusual vascular hamartoma that has been reported to occur either sporadically or as a dominantly inherited trait. A case of a large and sporadic macular cavernous hemangioma that was successfully treated with systemic infliximab as a first line of treatment is presented. The patient was referred with decreased vision of the right eye for 6 months. Fundus examination disclosed a reddish elevated lesion in the posterior pole that obscured the macula and encroached on the fovea. It consisted of grapelike aneurysms. The patient underwent treatment with infliximab intravenously. Two weeks after the second infusion of infliximab, visual acuity improved to 20/80 with a marked involution of the tumor in the right eye. Although the data are limited, we think that a new perspective for treatment of retinal vascular tumors may appear in the future considering antibodies to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha.

The anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) monoclonal antibody infliximab inhibits the pleiotropic actions of TNF and is widely used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as uveitis. A pathogenetic role of TNF in ocular inflammatory conditions has recently emerged. The authors describe a patient with collagen mixed disease who had decreased vision in the left eye. Fundus examination disclosed bilateral peripheral vasoproliferative tumors and macular edema in the left eye. The patient underwent treatment with infliximab intravenously for his systemic condition. Regression of the vasoproliferative tumors in both eyes and improvement of macular edema in the left eye was observed. Although the data are limited, anti-TNF antibodies such as infliximab may be useful in the treatment of retinal vascular tumors.

Central retinal vein occlusion is a common vascular cause of blidness. In this paper, we first report focal haemorrhagic pigment epithelium detachment and chorioretinal anastomosis in the peripapillary area as an intraoperative complication of radial optic neurotomy (RON). A 65-year-old white man presented with ischaemic central vein occlusion OS. He underwent vitrectomy with RON, panretinal photocoagulation and intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide. A circumscribed subretinal haemorrhage was noted intraoperatively at the nasal site of the RON. The haemorrhage size decreased at the seventh postoperative day when an optical coherence tomography scan disclosed a haemorrhagic pigment epithelium detachment. Fluorescein angiography and fundus photograph revealed a chorioretinal anastomosis formation nasal to the optic nerve confirmed by indocyanine green angiography. Best-correlated visual acuity improved from hand movements to 6/18 at the fourth week and it was stable until last examination. This case illustrates the role of chorioretinal anastomosis formation in the vision improvement following RON.

Background: Unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy (UAIM) is a rare entity, in which an inflammatory process involves the macular retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retina. It represents a wide spectrum of ocular findings not consistently present in all patients, which may lead to difficulties in the recognition of the condition.

Methods: This observational case report presents the third-generation optical coherence tomography (StratusOCT) and multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) findings in a 31-year-old woman with UAIM in the acute phase as well as two months later, and discusses the role of StratusOCT in the diagnosis.

Results: In the acute phase, StratusOCT demonstrated abnormal heterogeneous hyperreflectivity and thickening at the level of the outer retina and RPE in the foveal region. Two months after the initial presentation, StratusOCT examination showed a subfoveal area of homogeneous hyperreflectivity that extended from the RPE to the outer retinal layers with posterior shadowing, and sparse points of hyperreflectivity at several different levels of the neurosensory retina, including its superficial layers. The foveal retinal thickness during the acute phase was thicken compared with that after resolution. Seven days after the initial evaluation, mfERG showed severely reduced N1-P1 amplitudes with normal latencies in the region corresponding to the affected area of the papillomacular bundle and fovea. Two months later, mfERG results were normal.

Conclusions: StratusOCT provided valuable information, allowing for the exclusion of other disorders that might mimic UAIM. mfERG findings were consistent with transient outer retinal dysfunction as the cause of visual loss. We are unaware of previous reports of UAIM studied by these methods and could find no reference to them in a computerized search using MEDLINE.