Volume 58 · Issue 01 · 2022

In March 2021, the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of Long-Term Goals for 2035 (hereinafter referred to as the Outline Plan) was officially announced. The Outline of Planning is a programmatic document to guide the development of national economy and society, and it also points out the direction for the development of ophthalmology in China in the next five years. 2021 is the first year. We should carefully study the Outline of Planning and further strengthen research and focus on development in the following five aspects.

Glaucoma is the world′s leading cause of irreversible blindness. As a chronic disease, it requires lifelong follow-up and management. In the long-term follow-up of glaucoma patients, a diagnosis and treatment management system is helpful. Despite the availability of various means of informationalized record management, there remain problems and challenges, like a lack of unified file management standards, data incompatibility, and barriers to inter-hospital data sharing, which lead to the failure to establish a comprehensive and standardized glaucoma record for patients. It is necessary to form a standardized management system so as to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma, better maintain the visual function of patients and reduce the burden on society and family.

Preperimetric glaucoma (PPG) refers to the earliest stage of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) before emergence of visual field defects. However, the existence and diagnosis of the PPG stage remains controversial. In this article, with focuses on the clinical significance of intraocular pressure measurements, the etiology classification of POAG, the value of follow-up to PPG diagnosis, the accuracy of devices and methods, and genetic factors of POAG, we point out that PPG should be carefully diagnosed in clinical practice. It is hoped that constant and deep understanding of PPG could help to reach consensus opinions, thus improving and enhancing the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

Primary open-angle glaucoma is a chronic progressive optic neuropathy. There is no symptom in the early stage of the disease, but in the middle and late stages, it is difficult to be controlled and can lead to irreversible blindness. Therefore, the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease is very important. For a long time, a visual field defect has been an important standard for its diagnosis. In recent years, however, preperimetric glaucoma (PPG) has been paid much attention, which is the very early stage of open-angle glaucoma. Although the visual field is normal, there is glaucomatous optic neuropathy in PPG eyes, which may progress to visual field defects. By expounding and analyzing the definition, mechanism, clinical evidence, diagnostic methods and therapeutic value of PPG, this article puts forward the view that facing up to the existence of PPG in clinics is helpful to find the condition of glaucoma early, and timely follow-up and accurate judgement of the treatment opportunity are key to preventing glaucomatous visual field defects.

To evaluate the concentration of cytokines in the aqueous humor of neovascular glaucoma (NVG) patients at the angle-closure stage in different treatment periods and its relationship with recurrence.

A prospective case-control study. Angle-closure stage NVG patients who came to Peking University Third Hospital from September 2018 to September 2019 were enrolled and followed-up for at least 12 months. Patients received triple sequential therapy, including anti-vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF) injection, trabeculectomy, and panretinal photocoagulation. The aqueous humor before anti-VEGF treatment, before trabeculectomy, and during recurrence was collected. Multiplex bead immunoassay was applied to measure the concentration of 45 cytokines including VEGF, interleukin (IL), and chemokine. The relevant data were compared with the values of 25 proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients and 24 age-related cataract patients undergoing phacoemulsification as controls. The concentration of cytokines was presented as M (Q₁, Q₃). The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis H test was applied to compare the cytokine concentration between the NVG group and controls. The difference between the recurrence and non-recurrence groups was compared with the Mann-Whitney U test.

The average age of NVG patients was (60±11) years, and there were 22 males and 10 females. No significant differences were found in age and gender between the NVG group and the two control groups (both P>0.05). The median concentrations of VEGF in the NVG group before anti-VEGF treatment, before trabeculectomy, and after recurrence were 2 151.3 (1 433.1, 4 280.0) ng/L, 655.4 (287.3, 836.3) ng/L and 2 003.4 (1 603.1, 2 468.9) ng/L respectively. The concentrations of VEGF before anti-VEGF treatment and after recurrence in the NVG group were significantly higher than the PDR group [453.8 (189.9, 595.8) ng/L] and the cataract group [143.5 (112.7, 269.8) ng/L] (all P<0.05). The median concentration of programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) was 38.9 (22.4, 50.6) ng/L before anti-VEGF treatment, higher than that in the PDR group [12.0 (6.3, 20.1) ng/L] and the cataract group [14.6 (11.4, 19.3) ng/L]. The median concentration of fractalkine was 242.7 (189.0, 306.7) ng/L, higher than that in the PDR group [131.1 (119.1, 157.6) ng/L] and the cataract group [116.7 (10.2, 135.9) ng/L]. The median concentration of IL-7 was 18.0 (12.0, 32.7) ng/L, higher than that in the PDR group [7.7 (2.0, 10.8) ng/L] and the cataract group [3.3 (1.9, 6.8) ng/L]. The median concentration of eotaxin was 84.0 (52.4, 122.7) ng/L, higher than that in the PDR group [26.6 (17.1, 72.3) ng/L] and the cataract group [7.1 (5.6, 14.8) ng/L]. The median concentration of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) was 3.6 (2.8, 6.4) ng/L, higher than that in the cataract group [1.1 (0.3, 2.3) ng/L]. All the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the NVG and control groups in other cytokines or other treatment periods (all P>0.05). Six NVG patients suffered recurrence during the follow-up. The baseline concentration of IL-7 of these patients [10.5 (8.4, 16.0) ng/L] was significantly lower than that in patients who did not have recurred disease [22.7 (15.7, 34.1) ng/L] (Z=-2.74, P<0.01).

In the angle-closure stage of NVG patients, the concentrations of VEGF, PD-L1, fractalkine, IL-7, eotaxin, and TRAIL in the aqueous humor significantly increase during the onset of disease. Lower IL-7 may indicate a recurring tendency.

To explore the relative factors of visual field defect in advanced primary glaucoma.

A retrospective case-control study. The data of patients with primary advanced glaucoma who had the central 5 to 10 degrees of the visual field or the temporal peripheral field and were treated at Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University from January 2014 to December 2019 were reviewed. The patients were divded into the central visual field group and the temporal peripheral field group according to the type of visual field defect. Statistical analyses of single-factor (Chi square test or independent sample t test) and multivariate logistic regression were performed to analyze the correlation between the remaining visual field and the risk factors including age, gender, left/right eye, type of glaucoma, baseline glaucoma stage, peak intraocular pressure (IOP), mean IOP, number of operations, family history, high myopia, diabetes, hypertension, hypotension and migraine.

A total of 287 patients (287 eyes) were included. There were 101 patients [mean age, (61±15) years; 48 males, 53 females] with the central 5 to 10 degrees of the visual field and 186 patients [mean age, (59±17) years; 107 males, 79 females] with the temporal peripheral field. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to age, gender, left/right eye, age of onset, number of operations, family history and history of combined systemic diseases (all P>0.05). Primary open-angle glaucoma, chronic primary angle-closure glaucoma (CPACG) and acute primary angle-closure glaucoma were found in 26, 34 and 41 patients, respectively, in the central visual field group, and in 61, 78 and 47 patients, respectively, in the temporal peripheral field group. The baseline glaucoma was in the moderate stage in 30 and 32 patients, and in the advanced stage in 71 and 154 patients, respectively, in the two groups. The peak IOP was (31.94±4.11) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) and (34.58±6.47) mmHg, and the mean IOP was (22.48±3.99) mmHg and (24.01±4.30) mmHg, respectively, in the two groups. High myopia occurred in 5 and 28 patients, respectively, in the two groups. The differences in the type of glaucoma (χ²=7.24), baseline glaucoma stage (χ²=6.04), peak IOP (t=4.22), mean IOP (t=2.96) and high myopia (χ²=6.57) between the two groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05). In the multivariable model, CPACG (OR=2.021, 95%CI: 1.020 to 4.001), higher peak IOP (OR=1.128, 95%CI: 1.038 to 1.226) and high myopia (OR=5.090, 95%CI: 1.556 to 16.651) increased the risks for the progression to the temporal peripheral field.

CPACG, higher peak IOP and concurrent high myopia are all relative factors for the progression to the temporal peripheral field in advanced primary glaucoma.

To analyze the composition of diagnosis in young inpatients with angle-closure glaucoma and to compare the clinical characteristics between primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and secondary angle-closure glaucoma (SACG).

This was a retrospective case series study. Angle-closure glaucoma patients aged 40 years or younger and hospitalized in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center from January 2012 to December 2019 were included. The clinical diagnosis, gender, onset age, and results of general ophthalmic examination, A-scan ultrasonography measurements, ultrasound biomicroscopy, optical coherence tomography and visual field were recorded. The proportions and composition of PACG and SACG, as well as the misdiagnosis ratio, were analyzed. The onset age, visual acuity, visual field, and ocular parameters were compared between patients with PACG and SACG. Non-normally distributed data were represented by M (Q₁, Q₃). The difference between groups were compared by Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test, and independent sample t test.

A total of 243 patients (243 eyes) were included in this study. The mean onset age was (28±9) years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1∶1.79. There were 93 patients (38.3%) in PACG group and 150 (61.7%) in SACG group. The age of PACG [34(28, 38)] was older than that of SACG [28(19, 34)], and the proportion of males in the SACG group (44.0%, 66/150) was significantly higher than that in the PACG group (22.6%, 21/93) (Z=-5.34, χ²=11.46; both P<0.01). Nanophthalmos (22.7%, 34 cases), autosomal recessive bestrophinopathy (ARB) (19.3%, 29 cases), uveitis (18.7%, 28 cases) and retinitis pigmentosa (14.0%, 21 cases) were the most common causes of SACG. The best corrected visual acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) was 0.10 (0.00, 0.48) and 0.40 (0.06, 1.00), mean deviation of visual field was -8.07 (-27.49, -2.09) and -15.04 (-28.75, -5.97) dB, and subfoveal choroidal thickness was (452.3±130.7) and (396.3±120.9) μm in the PACG and SACG groups, respectively. The differences were statistically significant (Z=-4.86, -2.14; t=2.37; all P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in intraocular pressure, cup-to-disc ratio, extent of peripheral anterior synechia, central anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness between these two groups (all P>0.05). The misdiagnosis ratio was 10.7% (26/243) in all patients, while the misdiagnosis ratio of the SACG group (16.7%, 25/150) was higher than that of the PACG group (1.1%, 1/93) (χ²=14.61, P<0.001).

PACG, nanophthalmos and ARB are the most common etiologies in young inpatients with angle-closure glaucoma. Compared to PACG, patients with SACG are younger, with worse visual acuity and more severe visual field defects, and easier to be misdiagnosed.

To investigate the clinical features in patients with iridocorneal endothelial (ICE) syndrome.

A retrospective case series study. Data of clinical manifestations of patients with ICE syndrome including clinical subtypes, presenting visual acuity, clinical features and secondary glaucoma were collected from January 2014 to May 2020 in the Eye Hospital, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University. The Wald′s Chi-square test of generalized estimating equations was performed to analyze the differences in three clinical subtypes.

A total of 127 eyes of 114 subjects (64 females and 50 males) were included. Mean±SD age at presentation was (49±13) years. There were 53 patients (46.5%) with Chandler′s syndrome (CS), 36 patients (31.6%) with progressive iris atrophy (PIA), 24 patients (21.0%) with Cogan-Reese syndrome (CRS) and one patient (0.9%) with an undetermined subtype. And 101 patients (88.6%) had uniocular ICE syndrome. Approximately 81.7% (49/60), 56.1% (23/41) and 41.7% (10/24) of eyes presented visual acuity <0.3 in patients with CS, PIA and CRS, respectively. Corneal edema was most common in CS (52.5%, 32/61), followed by PIA (29.3%, 12/41) and CRS (20.8%, 5/24). Corectopia was found in 95.8% (23/24) of eyes with CRS, 95.1% (39/41) of eyes with PIA and 78.7% (48/61) of eyes with CS. Polycoria was observed in 29.3% (12/41) of eyes with PIA, 3.3% (2/61) of eyes with CS and 8.3% (2/24) of eyes with CRS. Ectropion uvea was most common in CRS (54.2%, 13/24), followed by 16.4% (10/61) in CS and 12.2% (5/41) in PIA. Glaucoma was found in 94 eyes (74.0%, 94/127). Among them, 60.7% (37/61) of CS, 80.5% (33/41) of PIA and 95.8% (23/24) of CRS had secondary glaucoma. The difference of presenting visual acuity, corneal edema, corectopia, polycoria, ectropion uveae and secondary glaucoma in three clinical subtypes all had statistical significance (Wald χ²=13.87, 10.77, 965.78, 11.45, 15.00, 222.04; all P<0.05). And 86.2% of eyes (81/94) had glaucoma surgeries and 41 eyes (43.6%, 41/94) had the intraocular pressure well controlled with various interventions.

ICE syndrome is mostly uniocular and more common in middle-aged patients. CS is the most common clinical subtype with poor presenting visual acuity. About 3/4 of eyes have secondary glaucoma, and the majority of them require surgical interventions, but prognoses are discouraging.

To investigate the cognitive effects of monocular blindness and related influencing factors.

A cross-sectional study was conducted. The patients with monocular blindness (the age of onset <16 years) were enrolled from Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital between January 2018 and June 2020. The Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scale was applied to assess seven cognitive domains including visuospatial and executive function, naming, attention, etc. Based on MoCA scores, all the patients were classified into two groups: normal cognitive functions and cognitive impairment. Spearman′s correlation was used to perform the single factor analysis of the influencing factors of cognitive functions. Multivariate linear regression analyses were applied to identify the independent influencing risk factors.

A total of 45 patients with monocular blindness were enrolled. There were 25 males and 20 females, with age at testing being (27±10) years.The incidence of cognitive impairment in 45 patients was 60.0% (27/45). The abnormal items ranking from a high to low rate were language (95.6%, 43 cases), delayed recall (75.6%, 34 cases), visuospatial and executive function (60.0%, 27 cases), abstract (44.4%, 20 cases), attention (35.6%, 16 cases), naming (20.0%, 9 cases), and orientation (0%). There were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) in total score (21.9±3.3 vs. 27.4±1.4), visuospatial and executive function (3.2±1.7 vs. 4.6±0.7), naming (2.7±0.6 vs. 2.9±0.2), attention (5.3±1.0 vs. 5.8±0.4), language (1.1±0.8 vs. 1.8±0.8), abstract (1.1±0.8 vs. 1.8±0.5) and delayed recall (2.3±1.3 vs. 4.4±0.8) between two groups of patients with and without cognitive impairment. Spearman′s correlation analysis showed visuospatial and executive functions, attention, abstract and MoCA total score were positively correlated with education years (correlation coefficients being 0.355, 0.424, 0.434 and 0.370, respectively; all P<0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that duration of blindness was correlated with naming (β=-0.325), and years of education correlated with attention (β=0.472), abstract ability (β=0.441) and MoCA total score (β=0.390) (all P<0.05).

Monocular blindness may affect language, delayed memory and visuospatial executive functions. The duration of blindness is an independent risk factor, and higher education is a protective factor of the cognitive impairment.

A diabetic patient complained of sudden visual field defect on the third day after cataract surgery. The fundus examination showed optic disc edema in the left eye, which was diagnosed as anterior ischemic optic neuropathy by optical coherence tomography and visual field examinations. The optic neuropathy was induced by the excessive application of tropicamide phenylephrine eye drops by herself before cataract surgery. After timely treatment, the patient′s vision and visual field recovered well.

A patient with a left eyelid mass for more than 1 year was admitted. One year ago, the patient underwent left sinus mass resection in another hospital, and the postoperative histopathology showed oncocytic carcinoma. Imaging examination in our hospital revealed lesions in the left eyelid and inner canthus, involving the canalis nasolacrimalis and orbit. The orbital mass was removed under general anesthesia. The histopathological diagnosis was oncocytic carcinoma.

Primary angle closure glaucoma is the main type of glaucoma in Asia. Plateau iris is one of the important mechanisms of non-pupil block. After years of research, the concept of plateau iris has been gradually clarified, and its epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment have been gradually recognized. The purpose of this review is to describe the relationship between plateau iris and angle closure glaucoma, and to provide reference for clinical treatment and research of angle closure glaucoma.

Exfoliative glaucoma is a type of glaucoma secondary to pseudoexfoliation syndrome. In recent years, great progress has been made in the research of pathogenesis and risk factors of exfoliative glaucoma. A variety of risk genes, abnormal growth factors and cytokines, changes in the anterior and posterior segments have been found. Based on the systematic summary of these achievements, this article points out the problems that need to be further studied, so as to provide a reference for future research in this field.

Glaucoma is the leading irreversible blinding eye disease worldwide, and China has the largest amount of primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). To reduce blindness, the therapeutic evolution can play a role. With the technical development of minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), the treatment of angle-closure glaucoma has been in a transformation. This article reviews the literatures related to the advances of MIGS in the combined treatment of PACG. The research findings show that MIGS may become one of the preferred surgical treatments for PACG in the future clinical management of glaucoma.

The Ahmed Glaucoma Drainage Valve (AGV) is an aqueous humor drainage implant that effectively controls intraocular pressure in glaucoma. AGV implantation, as the first choice surgical method for refractory glaucoma in China, has good efficacy and safety compared with other anti-glaucoma surgery. Based on the mechanism of lowering intraocular pressure of AGV implantation and the possible problems that affect the curative effect and lead to complications, this paper summarizes the application and progress of AVG implantation, compares the characteristics of various surgical procedures, and hopes to provide reference for standardizing the promotion of AGV implantation, reducing postoperative complications and improving the clinical treatment level of glaucoma.