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Purpose To report a case series of six patients suffering from branch retinal artery occlusion due to Bartonella henselae infection, in order to raise awareness to this etiology in the differential diagnosis of retinal artery occlusion. Methods A retrospective case series of patients with branch retinal artery occlusion due to ocular cat scratch disease who presented at four tertiary medical centers in Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia between the years 2008-2014. Data retrieved from the medical records included demographic data, exposure, complaints, visual acuity, clinical findings and imaging, laboratory assessment, treatment, disease course and visual outcome. Results The study group consisted of six patients who presented with branch retinal artery occlusion with or without neuroretinitis. One patient had multiple artery occlusions. Diagnosis of cat scratch disease was established based on positive serology and accompanying systemic symptoms, after ruling out other causes of retinal artery occlusion. Treatment included various regimens of antibiotics and systemic steroids. Visual outcome depended upon the obstructed artery. Conclusion Cat scratch disease may cause retinal artery occlusion in infected patients, leaving them with a permanent visual field defect. When retinal artery occlusion occurs as an early sign of the disease, prompt recognition may prevent further events. Thorough history and relevant tests may be of great value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Lyme disease is a multisystemic disease with protean ocular manifestations. We describe the occurrence of inflammatory choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM) in two patients suffering from presumed Lyme disease. Methods: Descriptive review of the clinical records of two patients. Results: Patient 1: 16-year-old healthy male presenting with a visual acuity of counting fingers [oculus dexter (OD)] and 6/6 [oculus sinister (OS)] 3 months after a tick bite. He had papillitis and an exudative subretinal macular lesion OD. Treatment was started with intravenous (IV) ceftriaxone; a week later, IV methylprednisolone was administered with a tapering dose of oral steroids thereafter. Three months later, VA had improved to 3/60 OD. Patient 2: 38-year-old healthy female presenting with reduced left-eye vision (6/24) 6 weeks after a tick bite. She also suffered from erythema migrans and arthralgias. She had left-eye papillitis, macular haemorrhages and vascular sheathing. Treatment was started with IV ceftriaxone. One month later, there was profound loss of vision with development of CNVM. Treatment was declined by the patient and eventually retinal fibrosis developed. Conclusion: Inflammatory CNVM has not been described previously in the setting of ocular Lyme borreliosis. We herein describe the occurrence of inflammatory CNVM in two patients whose diagnosis with Lyme disease was clinically based – both were sero-negative. Visual outcome in the two patients was profoundly impaired because of the ensuing macular scar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented on optical coherence tomographic (OCT) patients suffering from relentless placoid chorioretinitis (RPC).

Atopic dermatitis and food allergy are typically associated with elevated IgE levels. Ocular involvement in atopic dermatitis is usually limited to the ocular surface and ocular adnexae. We herein report on the unusual association of these two conditions with uveitis in two patients and describe the ocular and systemic outcome following the institution of systemic immunosuppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uveitides are a collection of over 30 diseases characterised by intraocular inflammation. Previous work demonstrated that the agreement among uveitis experts on diagnosis was modest at best with some pairs of experts having chance alone agreement on selected diseases. The Standardisation of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) is a17‐year collaboration among experts in uveitis, ocular image grading, informatics, and machine learning to improve clinical and translational uveitis research. The SUN "Developing Classification Criteria for the Uveitides" project used a rigorous, multi‐phase approach to develop classification criteria for 25 of the most common uveitic diseases. The project's phases were: (1) informatics; (2) case collection; (3) case selection; (4) machine learning; and (5) consensus review and publication. The results were classification criteria with a high degree of accuracy (93.3%–99.3% depending on anatomic class of the uveitis), the goal of which is to form the basis for future uveitis research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To characterize cat‐scratch disease (CSD) ocular manifestations and visual outcome and evaluate the effect of systemic antibiotics and corticosteroids on final visual acuity (VA). Methods: Multicentre retrospective cohort study. Medical records of 86 patients with ocular disease (107 eyes) of 3222 patients identified in a national CSD surveillance study were reviewed. Results: Mean age was 35.1 ± 14.2 years. Median follow‐up was 20 weeks (range 1–806 weeks). Of 94/107 (88%) eyes with swollen disc, 60 (64%) had neuroretinitis at presentation, 14 (15%) developed neuroretinitis during follow‐up, and 20 (21%) were diagnosed with inflammatory disc oedema. Optic nerve head lesion, uveitis, optic neuropathy and retinal vessel occlusion were found in 43 (40%), 38 (36%), 34 (33%) and 8 (7%) eyes, respectively. Good VA (better than 20/40), moderate vision loss (20/40–20/200) and severe vision loss (worse than 20/200) were found in 26/79 (33%), 35/79 (44%) and 18/79 (23%) eyes at baseline and in 63/79 (80%), 11/79 (14%) and 5/79 (6%) eyes at final follow‐up, respectively (p < 0.001). Significant VA improvement (defined as improvement of ≥3 Snellen lines at final follow‐up compared to baseline) occurred in 12/24 (50%) eyes treated with antibiotics compared with 14/16 (88%) eyes treated with antibiotics and corticosteroids (p = 0.02). Multivariate logistic regression was suggestive of the same association (odds ratio 7.0; 95% CI 1.3–37.7; p = 0.024). Conclusion: Optic nerve head lesion is a common and unique manifestation of ocular CSD. Most patients improved and had final good VA. Combined antibiotics and corticosteroid treatment was associated with a better visual outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]