Made by DATEXIS (Data Science and Text-based Information Systems) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
Funded by The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Grant: 01MD19013D, Smart-MD Project, Digital Technologies
All newborns should have screening eye examinations, including an evaluation of the red reflexes.
- The red reflex test is best performed in a darkened room and involves shining a bright direct ophthalmoscope into both eyes simultaneously from a distance of 1– 2 ft. This test can be used for routine ocular screening by nurses, pediatricians, family practitioners, and optometrists.
- Retinoscopy through the child's undilated pupil is helpful for assessing the potential visual significance of an axial lens opacity in a pre-verbal child. Any central opacity or surrounding cortical distortion greater than 3 mm can be assumed to be visually significant.
- Laboratory Tests : In contrast to unilateral cataracts, bilateral congenital cataracts may be associated with many systemic and metabolic diseases. A basic laboratory evaluation for bilateral cataracts of unknown cause in apparently healthy children includes:
Molecular (DNA) testing for PAX6 gene mutations (by sequencing of the entire coding region and deletion/duplication analysis) is available for isolated aniridia and the Gillespie syndrome. For the WAGR syndrome, high-resolution cytogenetic analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can be utilized to identify deletions within chromosome band 11p13, where both the PAX6 and WT1 genes are located.
In general, the younger the child, the greater the urgency in removing the cataract, because of the risk of amblyopia. For optimal visual development in newborns and young infants, a visually significant unilateral congenital cataract should be detected and removed before age 6 weeks, and visually significant bilateral congenital cataracts should be removed before age 10 weeks.
Some congenital cataracts are too small to affect vision, therefore no surgery or treatment will be done. If they are superficial and small, an ophthalmologist will continue to monitor them throughout a patient's life. Commonly, a patient with small congenital cataracts that do not affect vision will eventually be affected later in life; generally this will take decades to occur.
Diagnosis is made by an ophthalmologist or optometrist based on the clinical presentation. One indication can be the Amsler sign, which is the presence of blood (hyphema) in the aspirated vitreous fluid, in paracentesis of the anterior chamber. This is caused due to iris atrophy usually seen in FHI and exposure of the fragile iris vasculature to the vitreous fluid. The sudden change of pressure in the anterior chamber upon suction induced by the paracentesis, or during a cataract surgery, causes bursting of the fragile superficial iris capillaries resultsing in micro-bleeding. This is one clinical diagnostic sign of FHI slit lamp examination shows stringy keratic precipitates
Retinal detachment can be examined by fundus photography or ophthalmoscopy. Fundus photography generally needs a considerably larger instrument than the ophthalmoscope, but has the advantage of availing the image to be examined by a specialist at another location and/or time, as well as providing photo documentation for future reference. Modern fundus photographs generally recreate considerably larger areas of the fundus than what can be seen at any one time with handheld ophthalmoscopes.
Ultrasound has diagnostic accuracy similar to that of examination by an ophthalmologist. The recent meta-analysis shows the diagnostic accuracy of emergency department (ED) ocular ultrasonography is high. The sensitivity and specificity ranged from 97% to 100% and 83% to 100%. The typical feature of retinal detachment when viewed on ultrasound is "flying angel sign". It shows the detached retina moving with a fixed point under the B mode, linear probe 10 MHz.
Patients usually do not require treatment due to benign nature of the disease. In case cataract develops patients generally do well with cataract surgery.
A minority of retinal detachments result from trauma, including blunt blows to the orbit, penetrating trauma, and concussions to the head. A retrospective Indian study of more than 500 cases of rhegmatogenous detachments found that 11% were due to trauma, and that gradual onset was the norm, with over 50% presenting more than one month after the inciting injury.
There is no known cure for this syndrome. Patients usually need ophthalmic surgery and may also need dental surgery
Genetic counseling and screening of the mother's relatives is recommended.
Most people with the disease need laser repairs to the retina, and about 60 per cent need further surgery.
Typically a coloboma appears oval or comet shaped with round end towards the centre. There may be a few vessels (retinal or choroidal) at the edges. The surface may have irregular depression.
Colobomas of the iris may be treated in a number of ways. A simple cosmetic solution is a specialized cosmetic contact lens with an artificial pupil aperture. Surgical repair of the iris defect is also possible. Surgeons can close the defect by stitching in some cases. More recently artificial iris prosthetic devices such as the Human Optics artificial iris have been used successfully by specialist surgeons. This device cannot be used if the natural lens is in place and is not suitable for children. Suture repair is a better option where the lens is still present.
Vision can be improved with glasses, contact lenses or even laser eye surgery but may be limited if the retina is affected or there is amblyopia.
On photographs taken using a flash, instead of the familiar red-eye effect, leukocoria can cause a bright white reflection in an affected eye. Leukocoria may appear also in low indirect light, similar to eyeshine.
Leukocoria can be detected by a routine eye exam (see Ophthalmoscopy). For screening purposes, the red reflex test is used. In this test, when a light is shone briefly through the pupil, an orange red reflection is normal. A white reflection is leukocoria.
The cataract-microcornea syndrome is the association of congenital cataract and microcornea.
Risk factors such as UVB exposure and smoking can be addressed. Although no means of preventing cataracts has been scientifically proven, wearing sunglasses that counteract ultraviolet light may slow their development. While adequate intake of antioxidants (such as vitamins A, C, and E) has been thought to protect against the risk of cataracts, clinical trials have shown no benefit from supplements; though evidence is mixed, but weakly positive, for a potential protective effect of the nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin. Statin use is somewhat associated with a lower risk of nuclear sclerotic cataracts.
Many professionals that are likely to be involved in the treatment of those with Stickler's syndrome, include anesthesiologists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons; craniofacial surgeons; ear, nose, and throat specialists, ophthalmologists, optometrists, audiologists, speech pathologists, physical therapists and rheumatologists.
The cause of this condition is not presently known. It appears to be inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion.
It has been suggested that the disease follows a x-linked pattern of inheritance though studies done on this particular disease are few.
Acorea or fibrous occlusion of the pupil, microphthalmia and cataracts are present in both eyes. Microcornea and iridocorneal dysgenesis also occur. The retina and optic disc are normal.
Aniridia may be broadly divided into hereditary and sporadic forms. Hereditary aniridia is usually transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner (each offspring has a 50% chance of being affected), although rare autosomal recessive forms (such as Gillespie syndrome) have also been reported. Sporadic aniridia mutations may affect the WT1 region adjacent to the AN2 aniridia region, causing a kidney cancer called nephroblastoma (Wilms tumor). These patients often also have genitourinary abnormalities and intellectual disability (WAGR syndrome).
Several different mutations may affect the PAX6 gene. Some mutations appear to inhibit gene function more than others, with subsequent variability in the severity of the disease. Thus, some aniridic individuals are only missing a relatively small amount of iris, do not have foveal hypoplasia, and retain relatively normal vision. Presumably, the genetic defect in these individuals causes less "heterozygous insufficiency," meaning they retain enough gene function to yield a milder phenotype.
- AN
- Aniridia and absent patella
- Aniridia, microcornea, and spontaneously reabsorbed cataract
- Aniridia, cerebellar ataxia, and mental deficiency (Gillespie syndrome)
The diagnostic work up usually includes and MRI of the brain, an EEG, ophthalmic examination and a cardiac ECHO.
Muscle biopsy - which is not commonly done - may show storage of abnormal material and secondary mitochondrial abnormalities in skeletal muscle. Other features that may be seen on muscle biopsy include variability in fibre size, increase in internal and centralized nuclei, type 1 fibre hypotrophy with normally sized type 2 fibres, increased glycogen storage and variable vacuoles on light microscopy
The diagnosis is confirmed by sequencing of the EPG5.
Zonular cataract and nystagmus, also referred as Nystagmus with congenital zonular cataract is a rare congenital disease associated with Nystagmus and zonular cataract of the eye.
This includes Ataxia-telegiectasia, Chédiak-Higashi syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, Griscelli syndrome and Marinesco-Sjogren syndrome.
Irvine–Gass syndrome, pseudophakic cystoid macular edema or postcataract CME is one of the most common causes of visual loss after cataract surgery. The syndrome is named in honor of S. Rodman Irvine and J. Donald M. Gass.
The incidence is more common in older types of cataract surgery, where postcataract CME could occur in 20–60% of patients, but with modern cataract surgery, incidence of Irvine–Gass syndrome have reduced significantly.
Replacement of the lens as treatment for cataract can cause pseudophakic macular edema. (‘pseudophakia’ means ‘replacement lens’) this could occur as the surgery involved sometimes irritates the retina (and other parts of the eye) causing the capillaries in the retina to dilate and leak fluid into the retina. This is less common today with modern lens replacement techniques
A practical application of AMD-associated genetic markers is in the prediction of progression of AMD from early stages of the disease to neovascularization.
Genetic changes are related to the following types of Stickler syndrome:
- Stickler syndrome, COL2A1 (75% of Stickler cases)
- Stickler syndrome, COL11A1
- Stickler syndrome, COL11A2 (non-ocular)
- Stickler syndrome, COL9A1 (recessive variant)
Whether there are two or three types of Stickler syndrome is controversial. Each type is presented here according to the gene involved. The classification of these conditions is changing as researchers learn more about the genetic causes.