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Purpose: To evaluate retinal and choroidal changes in patients with internal carotid artery stenosis who had undergone carotid artery stenting or endarterectomy. Methods: The study included 43 patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis that required stenting or endarterectomy and 40 healthy controls. Patients were divided into two groups according to the degree of stenosis evaluated by magnetic resonance angiography. Group 1 consisted of patients having ICA stenosis of 50 to 70%, and Group 2 has more than 70%. Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) was used to measure the retinal thickness (RT) and choroidal thickness (CT) in all subjects before surgery and at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery. Results: Subfoveal and parafoveal CT were significantly lower in patients with ICA stenosis than the control group (p <.05, respectively). Patients with 50-70% stenosis had a significant increase in the CT at 1, 3, and 6 months after ICA stenting or endarterectomy (p <.05). Patients with >%70 stenosis did not have a significant increase in the CT at any time after ICA stenting or endarterectomy. Retinal thickness was not statistically different between the patients with ICA stenosis and the control subjects, and RT showed no significant change in patients with ICA stenosis before and after the surgery. Conclusion: Choroidal thickness was significantly thinner in patients with internal carotid artery stenosis. ICA stenting provided a recovery in the choroidal thickness in patients with moderate to advanced stenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aims To investigate the effect of smoking on choroidal thickness using Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. Methods 17 otherwise healthy smokers (study group) and 17 non-smokers (control group) were enrolled. In the study group, all participants underwent optical coherence tomography scanning at baseline, and 1 and 3 h following smoking one standard cigarette. Also the participants of the control group underwent optical coherence tomography scanning in the morning which was followed by two further examinations at the first and third hours, respectively. Choroidal thickness measurements were performed. Results The mean choroidal thickness at the fovea prior to smoking was 301.1±63.1 μm, which decreased to 284.2±56.7 μm at 1 h and 270.8±80.0 μm at 3 h following smoking ( p=0.001). The mean choroidal thickness was significantly decreased following smoking at all five extrafoveal points. The difference in choroidal thickness was not statistically significant at 1 and 3 h of smoking at all six points. In the control group, the mean baseline choroidal thickness at the fovea was 270.6±57.9 μm, which was 272.5±52.4 μm at 1 h and 273.8±57.4 μm at 3 h (p=0.816). Conclusions Cigarette smoking causes a significant decrease in choroidal thickness following smoking. Fourier domain optical coherence tomography can effectively demonstrate choroidal thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case report evaluates a 38-year-old male patient with retinal injury and visual impairment due to the exposure of Class 3A handheld greenblue diode laser purchased online. The patient, who was unresponsive to medical treatment, developed a full-thickness macular hole over time and required vitreoretinal surgery. Although the patient had an anatomical and functional improvement by early surgical treatment, it should be noted that these devices have the potential to cause permanent damage to the eye. If unlimited access to high power handheld laser devices continues, this will continue to be a significant global public health problem, leading to a large number of eye injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]