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Hammouda H Ghoraba,1,2 Ali Ahmed Ghali,3 Hosam Othman Mansour2,3 1Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 2Magrabi Eye Hospital, Cairo, Egypt; 3Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt Purpose: To report a retrospective series of seven phakic eyes of seven patients suffering from a malignant glaucoma-like syndrome following pars plana vitrectomy and silicone oil (SO) injection.Materials and methods: Seven eyes with retinal detachment treated with pars plana vitrectomy with or without scleral buckling with SO tamponade. This was followed by cataract extraction to manage the elevated intraocular pressure (IOP).Results: This was a retrospective review of seven cases that received pars plana vitrectomy and SO with or without scleral buckling for different causes of retinal detachment (three were rhegmatogenous and four were tractional). After a period ranging from 1 week to 1 month, they presented with malignant glaucoma-like manifestations; high IOP, shallow axial anterior chamber, and remarkable decrease of visual acuity. Atropine eye drops and anti-glaucoma medical treatment (topical and systemic) had been tried but failed to improve the condition. Dramatic decrease of IOP and deepening of the axial anterior chamber was observed in all cases in the first postoperative day after phacoemulsification and posterior chamber foldable intraocular lens implantation with posterior capsulotomy.Conclusion: Aqueous misdirection syndrome may be observed following pars plana vitrectomy and SO tamponade. This must be differentiated from other causes of post vitrectomy glaucoma. Cataract extraction with posterior capsulotomy controls the condition. Keywords: malignant glaucoma, pars plana vitrectomy, silicone oil

Hammouda H Ghoraba1, Amin F Ellakwa2, Ali A Ghali31Tanta University, Magrabi Eye Hospital, Tanta, Egypt; 2Menoufiya University, Shebin Elkom, Menoufiya, Egypt; 3Alazhar University, Damitta, EgyptPurpose: To compare the effectiveness of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with either silicone oil or gas tamponade for the treatment of traumatic macular holes.Methods: A retrospective comparative study included 22 patients who were operated on by PPV for repair of traumatic macular holes with either silicone oil tamponade (nine patients) or perfluoropropane (C3F8) gas tamponade (13 patients).Results: Twenty-two cases were reviewed to assess the anatomical and visual outcomes of surgery with silicone oil tamponade in nine cases (40.9%) vs 14% C3F8 gas tamponade in 13 cases (59.1%). The age of the silicone oil-treated patients ranged from 10 to 40 years (mean 27.4 ± 11.3 years), while that of the gas-treated patients ranged from 19 to 35 years (mean 26.54 ± 5.68 years). Female patients accounted for 33.3% of the silicone oil group and 30.77% of the gas-treated group. The minimal follow-up time for the silicone oil-treated group was 13 months, with a maximum of 18 months after silicone oil removal. The minimal follow-up time for the gas-treated group was 12 months and the maximum was 24 months. The rate of hole closure after the primary operation with oil tamponade was significantly lower than that with gas tamponade (66.67% vs 92.3%; P = 0.022). With re-operations, the final rate of hole closure was higher in the gas group (100%) than in the silicone oil group (77.8%). The final postoperative decimal visual acuity for the gas group was significantly better than for the oil group (0.433 vs 0.245; P = 0.047).Conclusions: C3F8 gas was a more effective tamponade than silicone oil in achieving initial closure of traumatic macular holes. Eyes receiving an oil tamponade required significantly more re-operations to achieve hole closure than did eyes undergoing a gas tamponade. Final visual acuity was better for gas-treated eyes than for silicone oil-treated eyes.Keywords: C3F8 gas, macular hole, silicone oil, trauma, vitrectomy

Hammouda Hamdy Ghoraba,1,2 Hosam Othman Mansour,1,3 Mohamed Ahmed Abdelhafez,1 Sameh Mohamed El Gouhary,4 Adel Galal Zaky,4 Mohamed Amin Heikal,5 Ali Ahmed Ali Ghali3 1Magrabi Eye Hospital, Tanta, Egypt; 2Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 3Al Azhar University, Damietta Branch, New Damietta, Egypt; 4Meunofia University, Meunofia, Egypt; 5Benha University, Benha, EgyptCorrespondence: Hosam Othman MansourAl Azhar University, Damietta Branch, New Damietta, EgyptTel +201001559282Email drhmansor@yahoo.comBackground and Objectives: To compare anatomical and visual results of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with or without additional encircling band in the management of pediatric traumatic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) in a tertiary referral center.Methods: A retrospective review of children diagnosed with traumatic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment treated by pars plana vitrectomy with or without encircling band.Results: One hundred thirty-nine eyes of 139 children diagnosed with traumatic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Surgeries were performed between May 2011 and November 2016. Patients were followed up for at least 18 months after last intervention. The included eyes were categorized into two groups. Group A (vitrectomy with additional encircling band) included 72 eyes of 72 children; 58 boys and 14 girls. Group B (vitrectomy without encircling band) included 67 eyes of 67 children; 58 boys and 9 girls. In group A, the mean age was 9.21± 3.24. Attached retina was achieved in 61% (44 out of 72 eyes), of which 34 eyes remained attached after silicon oil removal, and 10 eyes remained attached under silicon oil tamponade. Recurrent RD under oil was present in 28 eyes (38.9%). In group B, the mean age was 11.06± 3.64. Attached retina was present in 61.2% (41 out of 67 eyes), of which 30 eyes remained attached after oil removal, and 11 eyes remained attached under silicon oil tamponade. Recurrent RD was present in 26 eyes (38.8%). In group A, the final visual acuity (VA) ranged from NLP to 0.5; 58.7% of patients achieved VA more than counting fingers at 1 meter, and 34.6% of patients achieved VA of 0.05 or more. In group B, the final postoperative VA ranged from NLP to 0.9; 16% of patients achieved VA from counting fingers at 1 meter to 0.05, and 29.2% achieved VA of 0.05 or more.Conclusion: Although no statistically significant difference between the two groups (combined vitrectomy and encircling band versus vitrectomy alone in pediatric traumatic retinal detachment), it is wise to consider adding encircling band in severe trauma cases.Keywords: trauma, pediatric retinal detachment, encircling band, pars plana vitrectomy, silicon oil

Purpose: This is a retrospective consecutive study to assess the long-term results of combined scleral buckling and pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with silicone oil for the management of perforating ocular injury caused by gunshots.Methods: Data were gathered from medical records of patients who underwent scleral buckling and PPV with silicone oil 2 weeks after primary repair elsewhere, in Magrabi eye center (Tanta, Egypt), from June 2005 to May 2010.Results: The evaluated group consisted of 49 cases, out of which 26 cases presented with gunshot injury. Twenty-two were male (84.62%) and four were female (15.38%), with a mean age of 27.19+12.7 years. The follow-up ranged from 12 to 72 months, with a mean period of 32.04+8.9 months. The t-test was used to determine the visual outcome and main prognostic factors. Visual acuity improved in 22 of 26 eyes (76.92%), was unchanged in 4 eyes (15.38%), and worsened in 2 eyes (6.69%). Ten eyes (38.46%) achieved visual acuity between (20/40) and (20/100), and eight eyes (30.76%) had visual acuity between (20/200) and (20/400). The 18 eyes (69.23%) with visual acuity better than counting fingers (CF) had an attached retina with no signs of active proliferation after removal of the silicone oil.Conclusion: POI due to gunshot is usually a terminal event for the eye. Eyes with perforating injury can be saved and may attain useful vision after performance of combined scleral buckling and PPV with silicone oil tamponade. The final visual outcome depends on the macular or the optic nerve involvement and the final retinal stability, and phthisis bulbi can also be prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reducing pre- and in-hospital delays plays an important role in increasing the rate of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in patients with acute ischemic stroke. In Egypt, the IVT rate has increased steadily but is still far away from an ideal rate., Aim: The study aimed to investigate the factors associated with pre- and in-hospital delays of IVT among patients with acute ischemic stroke coming from urban and rural communities., Methods: This prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study was conducted from January 2018 to January 2019. Patients with acute ischemic stroke, who did not receive IVT, were included in the study. Patients were recruited from three large university stroke centers in Egypt, Assiut (south of Egypt), Tanta (north of Egypt), both serving urban and rural patients, and the University Hospital in Cairo (capital city), only serving an urban community. All participants underwent the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and full neurological assessment, urgent laboratory investigations, and computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to confirm the stroke diagnosis. The patients were subjected to a structured questionnaire that was designed to determine the parameters and time metrics for the pre- and in-hospital delays among patients from rural and urban regions., Results: A total of 618 patients were included in the study, of which 364 patients (58.9%) lived in rural regions and 254 (41.1%) in urban regions. General demographic characteristics were similar between both groups. Approximately 73.3% of patients who arrived within the therapeutic time window were urban patients. The time from symptom onset till hospital arrival (onset to door time, ODT) was significantly longer among rural patients (738 ± 690 min) than urban patients (360 ± 342 min). Delayed onset to alarm time (OAT), initial misdiagnosis, and presentation to non-stroke-ready hospitals were the most common causes of pre-hospital delay and were significantly higher in rural patients. For patients arriving within the time window, the most common causes of in-hospital delays were prolonged laboratory investigations and imaging duration., Conclusion: The limited availability of stroke-ready hospitals in rural Egypt leads to delays in stroke management, with subsequent treatment inequality of rural patients with acute stroke., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Nasreldein, Walter, Mohamed, Shehata, Ghali, Dahshan, Faßbender and Abd-Allah.)

Purpose: To evaluate optical coherence tomography angiography findings in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)., Methods: This prospective noninterventional study was conducted on 30 eyes of relapsing-remitting MS patients. Group (1) included 10 eyes with a history of optic neuritis (ON), group (2) included 10 eyes without any history of optic neuritis (MS-ON), and group (3) included 10 eyes of normal age/sex/refraction matched participants. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-A (ZEISS Cirrus™ HD-OCT Model 4000 (Carl Zeiss-Meditec, Dublin, CA) of the optic disc were done for all patients., Results: The best-corrected visual acuity was diminished in MS cases, especially in patients with ON with P value <0.001. The retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness showed a significant decrease in the average thickness and in all quadrants, notably the temporal quadrant in group 1 (P < 0.001). Ganglion cell layer thickness was diminished in average thickness and in all quadrants in both groups of MS, but only the first group showed statistical significance with P value <0.001). In respect to optic disc perfusion, Average, superficial, and deep vascular density index (AVDI, VDI 1, VDI 2) were statistically significantly lower in groups 1, 2 with (P-value < 0.001)., Conclusion: Decreased vascular perfusion of the optic nerve in MS patients, especially in those with ON is strongly correlated with the damage of RNFL and ganglion cell layer detected by OCT., Competing Interests: None

Background: Vasospasm of the cerebral blood vessels is a common complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) which results in delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) and worsening of the outcome., Methods: This study was performed on 41 aSAH patients diagnosed by non-contrast brain CT, CT angiography, and digital subtraction angiography followed by interventional aneurysmal embolization. Patients were followed up for 20 days by clinical assessment, EEG monitoring, and transcranial duplex studies (TCD) for early detection of vasospasm and DCI., Results: The most common ruptured aneurysmal sites were middle cerebral, anterior communicating, posterior communicating, terminal internal carotid, and anterior cerebral arteries respectively. The incidence of vasospasm was 36.8% of the included cases; 57% progressed to DCI while 43% passed a spontaneous regressive course. The most common arteries undergoing vasospasm were the MCA followed by the ACA, ICA, and lastly the basilar arteries. The mean time of vasospasm development as detected by EEG monitoring and/or TCD was 8.4 ± 2.8 days which was earlier than clinical signs by 12.5 ± 5.3 h in those progressed to DCI., Conclusion: Continuous EEG monitoring and TCD are valuable methods for early detection of vasospasm and they allow for early therapeutic intervention before irreversible ischemic neurological deficits take place., Competing Interests: - The manuscript was approved from The Research Ethics Committee and Quality Assurance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University. - The URL: http://tqac.tanta.edu.eg/new-tqac/ QualityAssuranceUnit@hotmail.com - Approval Code: 302/2/04/15. - Name of the PI: Mustafa Mohamed EL-Awady El-Sheikh. - Name of the department: Neuropsychiatry. - Type of the research: promotion research. - Date of approval: 27 April 2015. - The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee. Participation was voluntary and all participants or their first-degree relatives received detailed information concerning the aims of this research work and an informed consent was obtained prior to the commencement of the study.All participants had signed an informed consent to participate and for the data to be published.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Background and Aim: Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the influence of antioxidant vitamins on the efficacy of oral hypoglycemic therapy in type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM). This single-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin C and/or E supplementation on the efficacy of oral hypoglycemic therapy in T2DM Palestinian male patients from the Gaza Strip., Methods: Forty T2DM male patients aged 40-60 years on metformin treatment were randomly divided into four groups, each group received an additional one of the following daily oral supplements for 90 days: placebo; vitamin C; vitamin E and vitamin C plus vitamin E. After overnight fasting, venous blood specimens were collected from all individuals into K3-EDTA tubes and serum tubes for measuring the biochemical and hematological parameters of the study at baseline and after 90 days of vitamins supplementation., Results: The results revealed that vitamin C and/or E improve fasting blood sugar (FBS), HbA1c, lipid profile, insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), reduced glutathione (GSH); and Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QISCI) compared with diabetic patients group that received placebo., Conclusion: This study provided additional evidence on the beneficial effects of supplementing antioxidant vitamins in T2DM which could improve the clinical condition and attenuate or prevent diabetic pathogenesis and complications that, secondly to poor glycemic control, could attribute to the imbalance between the decline in the endogenous antioxidants and increasing production of the reactive oxygen species leading to the oxidant-mediated damage present in the diabetic context., (Copyright © 2018 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is followed by a strong inflammatory response contributing to brain damage and making early diagnosis and treatment inevitable. Hence, obesity is a state of chronic inflammation with amplified oxidative stress; this study aimed to assess the role played by thrombomodulin (TM)/alarmin signaling pathway and copeptin in AIS initiation and severity in addition to the implication of abnormal body weight. The study was conducted on 50 participants; 30 were patients with AIS (15 overweight/obese and 15 normal weight), 10 were overweight/obese, and 10 were normal weight. Plasma TM, copeptin, high mobility group box1 (HMGB1), and lipocalin 2 (LCN2) levels were immunoassayed. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) mRNA expression was evaluated by real-time PCR, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), carotid intima media thickness; atherogenic index and glycemic status were also assessed. TM, copeptin, HMGB1, and LCN2 levels were significantly increased in overweight/obese AIS patients and in AIS patients with NIHSS score ≥ 7 when compared to other groups (p value=, ˂ 0.001*). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve elaborated HMGB-1 and LCN2 as the best biomarker for diagnosis and prediction of AIS severity, respectively. Regression analysis avails LCN2 and TM as best biomarker for AIS severity predication. In conclusion, these results highlighted detrimental role of alarmin signaling with increased adaptive response to block this pathway through TM in addition to increased copeptin level as an acute damage marker and their tight relation to WC not to BMI in AIS which clarify the implication of central adiposity.

Background and Purpose: Acute stroke treatment has significantly improved over the years in Egypt. However, there is often notable delay in pre-hospital and in-hospital management of acute stroke patients. The delay may be largely attributed to poor stroke knowledge and awareness of the general public and this study was aimed at the evaluation of the abovementioned factors., Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study involving 1154 participants from 4 governorates using a questionnaire in Arabic, collecting sociodemographic data, participants' risk factors, and knowledge and stroke awareness (risk factors, symptoms, prevention, treatment and prognosis, action in response to acute stroke). Data were collected during the World stroke day October 29, 2015., Results: Study participants were found to have a low level of awareness of stroke with median percent score of 35.7% and interquartile range (IQR) of 17.86. Higher income, level of education, having risk factors and knowing someone with stroke were significant predictors of a higher level of stroke awareness., Conclusion: In general, low public stroke awareness has been detected among Egyptians, and this is a call for healthcare authorities to invest in public education programmes among the Egyptian population., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Introduction: Based on many preclinical and small clinical trials, stem cells can help stroke patient with the possibility of replacing the cells and supporting the remaining cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of bone marrow mononuclear (BMMN) stem cell transplantation in subacute ischemic stroke patients., Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine ( n  = 39) patients with subacute ischemic cerebral infarct due to large artery occlusion in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory were recruited. They were distributed into two groups: first group ( n  = 21) served as an experimental group, which received intra-arterial (IA) mononuclear stem cells (bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell), while the other group ( n  = 18) served as a control group. All the patients were evaluated clinically by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, modified Rankin Scale, Barthel Index, modified and standardized Arabic version of the Comprehensive Aphasia Test, and radiological for 12 months., Results: The stem cell-treated group showed better improvement, but it was not significant when compared with the non-treated group. The volume of infarction changes at the end of the study was non-significant between both the groups. There was no, or minimal, adverse reactions in stem cell-treated group., Conclusion: The study results suggest that autologous BMMN stem cell IA transplantation in subacute MCA ischemic stroke patients is safe with very minimal hazards, but no significant improvement of motor, language disturbance, or infarction volume was detected in stem cell-treated group compared with the non-treated group.