To evaluate the systemic high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (XFS) and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (XFG). We prospectively examined 31 patients with XFS, 26 with XFG, and 25 controls. To the study patients with the exclusion of serious hypertension that do not have any cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and that diagnosed as XFS and XFG have been included. Each patient passed through a detailed blood sampling including hsCRP, biochemistry, and lipid profile. Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured with nephelometric method by using Beckman IMMAGE hsCRP reagent. Each group had similar demographic parameters including age, sex, body mass index, heart rate, and blood pressure. When we compared with controls, there was no statistically significant difference in the hsCRP and biochemistry results between the 3 groups. When all patients with pseudoexfoliation (PEX) compared with controls there was no difference. Our findings indicated no difference in the hsCRP level between XFS, XFG, and controls. This study suggests that CRP is not a predictive marker of inflammation and peripheral endothelial dysfunction in XFS, which is accepted as a systemic disorder.
6 September 2022 in Ocular Immunology and Inflammation
This study aimed to evaluate subclinical retinal microvascular changes with OCTA in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) patients without ocular involvement.Ten eyes of 10 JSLE and 13 eyes ...
1 December 2018 in Turkish Journal of Ophthalmology
To describe the clinical features and microstructural characteristics assessed by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) in patients with adenoviral epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC). The study included 20 eyes of 12 patients who presented to the Kocaeli University Medical Faculty, Department of Ophthalmology with complaints of watering, crusting, and stinging, were clinically diagnosed EKC, and were examined by slit-lamp biomicroscopy and IVCM during the prodromal phase and the punctate keratitis, deep epithelial keratitis, and subepithelial infiltration stages of EKC. While biomicroscopic examination findings were normal during the prodromal period of EKC, IVCM showed an increase in Langerhans cell numbers in the subbasal plexus. After onset of clinical EKC, the punctate epithelial keratitis stage was characterized by findings of hyperreflective cell clusters in the basal epithelium layer, increased accumulation of Langerhans cells in Bowman’s layer, and hyperreflectivity in the anterior stromal layers. In the deep epithelial keratitis stage, the basal epithelial cells displayed peripheral hyperreflectivity and the hyperreflectivity of the anterior stromal surface increased and became more rounded. In the subepithelial keratitis stage, these findings persisted in addition to increased anterior stromal surface hyperreflectivity and focal round plaques. This study shows that the inflammatory process in the cornea starts in the prodromal period of EKC. Massive inflammation of the epithelium and stroma was observed in the active phase and focal changes were observed on the anterior stromal surface starting in the subepithelial infiltration period.
28 October 2022 in Turkish Journal of Ophthalmology