β thalassemia is a hereditary hemolytic disease caused by the defect of β globin gene. Transfusion-dependent β thalassemia patients need long-term blood transfusion to survive, and a series of systemic and ocular complications will occur in the disease itself and long-term blood transfusion. Retinal blood vessel density decreases, retinal thickness thinned and elastic pseudoxanthoxanoma syndrome are found in fundus due to long-term anemia and side effects of iron chelating agent. At present, there are few reports about eye changes in thalassemia patients, and the cognition is relatively scarce. Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant for physicians, deeply explore the cause and symptomatic treatment, combined with individual disease characteristics, to provide a more scientific and accurate plan for clinical treatment.
Ocular fundus imaging technology has developed rapidly in the past decade. The exsiting imaging technology is constantly updated and new imaging technology emerges one after another. The related research and development investment, equipment usage and paper publication are all growing rapidly. At the same time, it is developing towards the direction of multi-technology combination, integration of artificial intelligence and big data, as well as small-size and automation use of equipment. However, there are many challenges behind the prosperity of ocular fundus imaging, such as professionally remodeling of fundus diseases knowledge system standardization, balance and independence of scholarly communication, misunderstanding of "multimodal images", validation of the effectiveness and applicability of emerging technologies, clinical imaging research innovation, original technology innovation and technology reserve, fundus imaging data integration and analysis system for the future.
ObjectiveTo observe the clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with pachydrusen in eyes affected by central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). MethodsA retrospective clinical study. From July 2021 to June 2024, 144 cases and 158 eyes of CSC patients diagnosed through ophthalmological examination at Department of Ophthalmology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were included. All affected eyes underwent a series of assessments, including refraction, intraocular pressure measurement, fundus color photography, fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA), and swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT). Additionally, 58 eyes underwent indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). Cross-sectional (en-face) OCT was utilized to observe the colocalization of pachydrusen with areas of dilation of large choroidal vessels and attenuation of the choriocapillaris layer. The device was used for OCT included software for calculating subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT). FFA fluorescein leakage was categorized into “ink stain”, “cooking smoke”, and “diffuse point leakage”. Patients were classified into groups of CSC patients complicated by pachydrusen and groups of CSC patients without pachydrusen. Comparisons between the groups were performed using the χ2 test, and factors associated with the presence of pachydrusen were analyzed using logistic regression. ResultsAmong 158 eyes, 72 eyes (45.6%, 72/158) were complicated by pachydrusen. In en-face OCT images, pachydrusen were co-located with dilated large choroidal vessels in 59 eyes (81.94%, 59/72) and corresponded to choroidal capillary layer blood flow holes in 61 eyes (84.72%, 61/72). Among the 58 eyes that underwent ICGA examination, pachydrusen corresponded to punctate strong fluorescence in 46 eyes (79.31%, 46/58) and were located in areas of choroidal hyperpermeability in 43 eyes (74.14%, 43/58). Compared with the CSC group without pachydrusen, the incidence of choroidal neovascularization, flat irregular pigment epithelial detachment, diffuse punctal leakage and multiple leakage points increased in the CSC group, and the differences were statistically significant (χ2=6.217, 8.455, 5.363, 17.749; P＜0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that age [odds ratio (OR)=1.116, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.060-1.176, P＜0.001], chronic CSC [OR=2.628, 95%CI 1.250-5.526, P=0.011] were independent risk factors for the occurrence of pachydrusen. ConclusionsThe incidence of pachydrusen in eyes with CSC is 45.6%, with age and chronic CSC identified as independent risk factors for their occurrence. Pachydrusen correspond to dilated choroidal vessels and areas of choroidal hyperpermeability, which may serve as potential risk factors for CSC activity or development.
Objective
To investigate the features of ocular fundus of retinal pigment epithelial detachment (PED) in Chinese patients more than 50.
Methods
The clinical data of 31 continuous patients (34 eyes) with PED diagnosed by ocular fundus photochromy, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and indocyanine green angiography ( ICGA ) from Oct, 2001 to Aug, 2004 were analyzed retrospectively.
Results
In 34 eyes with PED, the results of FFA showed serous PED in 18 (52.9%), hemorrhagic PED in 8 (23.5%), and serosanguineous PED in 8 (23.5%); the results of ICGA revealed PED associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in 12 (35.3%), PED associated with ploypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in 17 (50.0%), PED associated with both CNV and PCV in 1 (2.9%), and avascular PED in 4 (11.8%).
Conclusions
PED in Chinese patients more than 50 can be associated with CNV, PCV or other avascular diseases, and PCV is the most common intercurrent choroidal vascular disease.
(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis, 2006, 22: 224-227)
Fundus neovascularization is a significant cause of ocular diseases, mainly including retinal neovascularization and choroidal neovascularization. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, though effective, has limitations such as a short half-life, non-responsiveness, and drug resistance. 6-Phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3), a key regulator of glycolysis, affects the generation of pathological blood vessels by modulating the metabolism of vascular endothelial cells. Small molecule inhibitors targeting PFKFB3 protein have been confirmed in animal and cell models to significantly inhibit pathological angiogenesis, showing good therapeutic potential. However, most of them are still in the preclinical research stage. In the future, it is necessary to further investigate the mechanism of PFKFB3 gene, optimize the specificity and safety of the inhibitors, and explore the effects of combining them with existing therapies, so as to provide new strategies for the treatment of fundus neovascular diseases.
Objective To investigate the iconographic characteristics and clinical significances of synchronic examination of indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) for high myopia.Methods Thirty patients (57 eyes) with high myopia（gt;-6.00D）, selected randomly and consecutively, were examined by ICGA and FFA synchronically.Results The result of early phase of FFA showed hypofluorescence of the background in 25 eyes，while of late phase showed subretinal neovascularization (SRNV) in 10 eyes and streak formation in 40 eyes. The result of ICGA showed choroidal retrobulbar arteries in 8 eyes, hypofluorescence of the background in 35 eyes, SRNV in 8 eyes, and streak formation in 52 eyes.Conclusion The iconographic characteristics of ICGA and FFA of high myopia include hypofluorescence of the background, SRNV and streak formation. ICGA can givemore exact information on the lesions of choroid in high myopia. The synchronic examination of ICGA and FFA may act as a guide to the therapy for high myopia.(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2003，19：87-89)
Hydroxychloroquine retinopathy is an ocular lesions that develops following long-term or excessive use of hydroxychloroquine. The early clinical presentation of this lesion is nonspecific and is often detected when severe central vision impairment occurs in late stage. It currently mainly includes hydroxychloroquine binding to melanin, inducing degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelium, increasing the pH of lysosomes in the retinal pigment epithelium and interfering with the visual cycle. In recent years, with the development of retinal imaging technology and the in-depth study of hydroxychloroquine retinopathy, characteristic fundus structural changes such as retinal and choroidal thickness and blood vessels may occur in the early stage. This not only provides an important basis for the early diagnosis of hydroxychloroquine retinopathy, but also provides important clues for investigating its pathogenesis. Clinicians' proficiency in relevant fundus changes and pathogenesis will facilitate early diagnosis and treatment, while also minimizing irreversible central vision impairment in patients.
Microaneurysm is the initial symptom of diabetic retinopathy. Eliminating this lesion can effectively prevent diabetic retinopathy in the early stage. However, due to the complex retinal structure and the different brightness and contrast of fundus image because of different factors such as patients, environment and acquisition equipment, the existing detection algorithms are difficult to achieve the accurate detection and location of the lesion. Therefore, an improved detection algorithm of you only look once (YOLO) v4 with Squeeze-and-Excitation networks (SENet) embedded was proposed. Firstly, an improved and fast fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm was used to optimize the anchor parameters of the target samples to improve the matching degree between the anchors and the feature graphs; Then, the SENet attention module was embedded in the backbone network to enhance the key information of the image and suppress the background information of the image, so as to improve the confidence of microaneurysms; In addition, an spatial pyramid pooling was added to the network neck to enhance the acceptance domain of the output characteristics of the backbone network, so as to help separate important context information; Finally, the model was verified on the Kaggle diabetic retinopathy dataset and compared with other methods. The experimental results showed that compared with other YOLOv4 network models with various structures, the improved YOLOv4 network model could significantly improve the automatic detection results such as F-score which increased by 12.68%; Compared with other network models and methods, the automatic detection accuracy of the improved YOLOv4 network model with SENet embedded was obviously better, and accurate positioning could be realized. Therefore, the proposed YOLOv4 algorithm with SENet embedded has better performance, and can accurately and effectively detect and locate microaneurysms in fundus images.
Purpose
Observation on changes of choroidal circulation in 21 cases (42 eyes) of retinal dystrophies.
Methods
Fundus fluorescein angiography (ICGA) were used for comparartive analyses of the retinal and choroidal blood circulation of 21 cases (42 eyes) of retinal dystrophic diseases.
Results
The changes of choroidal circulation,i.e.slow perfusion or filling defects were observed in four kinds of retinal dystrophies.
Conclusion
ICGA may assist in providing valuable informations on choroidal circulation of retinal dystrophic diseases.
(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis,1998,14:88-91)
Purpose
To investigate the blood dynamic feature of choroid in normal eyes.
Methods
Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) was performed in each of fifty consecutive normal eyes. Results
The earliest fundus fluorescence emerged at the mean timiest fundus fluorescence emerged at the mean time of (14.25plusmn;3.59) seconds,it represented the beginning of filling of choroidal arteries located at the posterior pole.The irrigation of choroidal veins appeared at the mean time of (15.03plusmn;3.44) seconds.At the time threre was the overlapping imaging appearance of choroisal arteries and veins.The most hyperfluorescent areas appered at the mean time of(16.75plusmn;3.78) seconds with definite shapes located at the posterior pole,and this stood for the fluorescence stage of choroidal arteries,veins and capillaries.The fluorescence of choroidal vein began to weaken at 11prime;58Prime;15plusmn;2prime;39Prime;86,and revealed the imaging of late stage of choroidal veins.The latest stage of ICGA was at 22prime;13Prime;22plusmn;3prime;30Prime;55,and presented obscure fluorescence. Conclusion
The measurement results and fluorescent features of ICGA of normal eyes can offer consulted bases for the clinical diagnosis of the choroidal diseases.
(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis,1998,14:68-71)
