Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) is a hereditary retinal vascular dysplasia. So far, 6 genes have been found to be associated with FEVR: Wnt receptor Frizzled Protein 4, Norrie's disease, co-receptor low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5, tetraspanin 12, zinc finger protein 408, and kinesin family members 11 genes. Its clinical manifestations, pathological processes and genetic patterns are diverse, and it shows the relationship between gene polymorphism and clinical manifestation diversity. It is characterized by different symptoms between the same individual, the same family, and the same gene mutation; different clinical stages and gene mutation types of parents or unilateral genetic children; different clinical characteristics and gene mutation patterns of full-term and premature infant; combined with other eye disease and systemic diseases; double gene mutations and single gene mutations have different clinical manifestations and gene mutation characteristics. A comprehensive understanding of the different clinical manifestations and diverse genetics of FEVR can provide better guidance for the treatment of FEVR.
With the continuous advancement of technology, the field of retinal surgery is poised to witness an increasing array of innovations and breakthroughs. The innovation in retinal surgery plays a pivotal role in enhancing the success rate of operations, reducing the risk of complications, and improving patient prognosis and quality of life. This encompasses innovations in vitrectomy systems, the novel application of vitrectomy in treating other ocular diseases, advancements in retinal surgical techniques, technological and conceptual innovations, as well as multidisciplinary collaboration, all of which contribute to the ongoing development in the treatment of retinal diseases. Therefore, innovations in retinal surgery should receive significant attention from ophthalmologists specializing in retinal diseases with the best service to patients.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness among the working-age population, affecting approximately one-third of diabetes patients globally. As the country with the world's largest diabetic population, China faces a severe situation in DR prevention and control due to the vast number of people affected. Early screening and timely intervention have been proven effective in slowing disease progression and significantly reducing the risk of vision loss. However, constrained by multiple barriers such as uneven distribution of medical resources, insufficient primary-level screening capacity, low patient awareness, and inadequate health insurance coverage, China's current DR screening rate remains below 10%, significantly lower than that of developed countries. To address these challenges, various regions in China are actively exploring artificial intelligence technology and innovative screening models, with some preliminary successes in practice. Concurrently, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for National Eye Health explicitly calls for enhancing primary care screening capabilities and implementing a tiered diagnosis and treatment system, providing policy support for DR screening efforts. Nevertheless, issues such as the limited coverage of primary-level screening and insufficient standardization in technology application remain prominent. Future efforts should further strengthen primary-level capacity building, promote multidisciplinary collaboration, standardize technical procedures, and improve policy support. This comprehensive approach aims to achieve broad coverage of DR prevention and treatment, effectively reduce blindness rates, and ultimately enhance the overall level of national eye health.
According to different experimental methods of induced diabetic retinopathy (DR) and different characteristics of the observed retinopathy, DR animal models can be divided into drug or dietary-induced models, oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) models, spontaneous inheritance models, and transgenic models. At present, induced model is one of the most commonly used animal model for DR study, which has the advantages of short modeling cycle, low cost, simple experimental operation and good repeatability. However, the drugs have certain side effects on various organs of animals and the risk of animal death is higher. OIR model has good repeatability, good stability and relatively low cost. However, due to the lack of metabolic changes of hyperglycemia in OIR mice, this model cannot accurately reflect the effects of metabolism on retina under hyperglycemia. The pathological changes of the spontaneous model are relatively stable, however, the application of this model is limited because the genetic homogeneity of diabetes differs from that of human and the cost is high. Transgenic model has definite etiology, however, its application is limited owing to the high cost and the high requirements of technology, operation and equipment. Therefore, researchers should comprehensively consider characteristics and limitations of different models while choosing suitable DR model based on research objectives, observation indicators, experimental conditions, and funds. In addition, animal models that can more accurately simulate DR need to be developed to provide more effective tools for studying the mechanism of DR and developing feasible prevention and treatment approaches.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by severe itching and recurrent eczema-like lesions. With the increase in the global incidence of AD, the incidence of ocular complications in patients also increases. Retinal detachment (RD) seriously affects the vision of patients, and is more common in young and middle-aged people, often involving both eyes with poor prognosis. What’s more, there are many similarities between RD associated with AD and traumatic RD, such as peripheral retinal breaks, giant retinal tears and retinal dialysis. Regarding the mechanism of AD complicated with RD, the trauma theory is widely accepted. Scholars have also reported on the theory of anterior eye developmental abnormalities, inflammation-traction theory, and ectodermal origin theory. On AD complicated with RD, regardless of scleral buckling surgery or vitrectomy surgery, the rate of first retinal reattachment is low with severe proliferative vitreoretinopathy or chronic uveolar inflammation after surgery, which cause traction on the ciliary body and the retina separation appearance again or new cracks appearance. Combination of behavioral therapy, drug therapy and psychotherapy can effectively reduce the occurrence of RD; prevention of eye rubbing, reduction of traumatic exercise, rational use of glucocorticoids or immunosuppressants under the guidance of dermatologists are effective ways for AD patients to prevent RD occurrence. Regular eye examinations can help patients find RD as soon as possible so that they can be treated in time.
ObjectiveTo observe the prevalence of fundus tessellation in college students with high myopia and analyze the relationship of fundus tessellation and ocular biological parameters.MethodsA cross-sectional study. A total of 202 eyes of 161 individuals were included in the study. Among them, there were 49 males and 112 females with the average age of 19.73 ± 1.12 years old, and the average spherical equivalent of －7.39 ± 1.12 D. All participants underwent computer optometry, non-mydriatic fundus photography, OCT, OCT angiography (OCTA) examination and axial length (AL) measurement. The non-mydriatic fundus camera was used to take the photo of fundus. Fundus tessellation was differentiated to no leopard eye fundus (grade 0), mild leopard eye fundus (grade 1) and middle leopard eye fundus (grade 2) and for severe leopard eye fundus (grade 3). The lenstar was used for eye axis measurement. The choroid, retinal thickness and microvessel density of the macular fovea at the posterior pole of the fundus were measured using a swept-frequency source optical coherence tomography scanner. According to the ETDRS, the choroid within 6 mm of the fovea was divided into 3 concentric circles centered on the macula, which were the central area with a diameter of 1 mm, the inner ring area of 1-3 mm and the outer ring area of 3-6 mm. The outer ring area of 3-6 mm included a total of 9 zones. The inner ring and outer ring 4 regions were superior, inferior, nasal and temporal, respectively. The distribution characteristics of choroid and retinal thickness in different regions and the density of superficial microvessels in the macular area of the retina were observed. Bivariate correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship of fundus tessellation and ocular biological parameters.ResultsAmong 202 eyes, 37 eyes with leopard pattern fundus with 0 grade (18.32%, 37/202), 165 eyes with grade 1 to 3 (81.68%, 165/202), of which grade 1, 2 and 3 were respectively 125 (61.88%, 125/202), 28 (13.86%, 28/202), 12 (5.94%, 12/202) eyes. The thickness of the retina, both horizontally and vertically, increased first and then decreased from the nasal side to the central area, was lowest in the central area, then increased and then decreased; the overall thickness of the temporal side was slightly lower than that of the nasal side, and the overall thickness of the lower part was slightly lower than the upper part. The choroidal thickness gradually thickened from the nasal side to the temporal side in the horizontal direction; it gradually decreased in the vertical direction from the top to the central area, then increased and then decreased. The SCP blood flow density in the central area in the horizontal and vertical directions was lower than that in other areas. In multivariate regression analysis, Leopard-like fundus classification and AL (β=0.291, OR=1.338, 95%CI 1.064-1.682, P=0.013), SCP blood flow density in the central area of the macula (β=0.080, OR=1.084, 95% CI 1.006-1.167, P=0.034) and choroidal thickness (β=－0.033, OR=0.968, 95%CI 0.960-0.975, P＜0.001) were related.ConclusionsPatients with high myopia have a higher prevalence of tessellation. The deepening of tessellation is related to the thinning of the choroid thickness, the growth of the eye axis, and the larger density of the superficial microvessels in the fovea.
Neurovascular unit (NVU) refers to a functional complex of neural cells and vasculature, which plays an important role in maintaining retinal homeostasis and matching metabolic demands. In physiological situation, retinal NVU mainly exerts two effects: (1) maintaining blood-retinal barrier for retinal homeostasis maintenance; (2) regulating local blood flow to meet metabolic and functional demands of the retina. The pathological changes in retinal diseases are reflected in each functional part of retinal NVU, including cell-cell connections, signal pathways, metabolic activities and cellular functions. However, the main pattern and manifestation of NVU impairment differs among retinal diseases due to different etiologies. At present, understanding on retinal NVU is still insufficient, and its clinical application is even more limited. Further application in the diagnosis and treatment of retinal diseases is an important direction for future research on NVU.
Intravitreal drug injection is a treatment for common chronic fundus diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The “14th Five-Year” National Eye Health Plan (2021-2025) recommends focusing on fundus diseases and improve the management mode of patients with chronic eye diseases. Therefore, it is imperative to explore how to further optimize the service process of intravitreal injection under the premise of guaranteeing patients' medical safety, to promote medical service efficiency and standardized management level and improve the medical experience of patients. Based on the quality control standard of vitreous cavity injection for retinopathy in China, Chinese fundus disease and related field experts developed the present expert consensus on the establishment of a one-stop intravitreal injection model and the management of its organization after a serious, comprehensive, and complete discussion, focusing on a standardized operation process, quality control, and safety management, providing more references for establishing a suitable intravitreal injection management model for ophthalmology and promoting the development of diagnostic and treatment models for fundus disease in China.
Diabetes retinopathy (DR) is listed as one of the chronic diseases that should be focused on in the “14th Five-Year” National Eye Health Plan (2021-2025). Early screening is one of the effective measures to reduce blindness caused by DR. Establishing an efficient and practical community screening model is a powerful guarantee for completing early screening. The Ocular Fundus Diseases Group of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association has led the development of Expert consensus on community screening of diabetic retinopathy among DR community screening experts that is suitable for the current national situation, in order to guide and promote the further improvement of DR community screening work in China. This Expert Consensus provides detailed specifications on the current domestic trend of DR, the necessity of screening, the role of artificial intelligence grading, screening process, and quality control. This interpretation further emphasizes the importance of DR community screening, while emphasizing the responsibilities of different departments in the screening process. Finally, recommendations are provided for the sustainability of DR community screening. It is hoped that the screening rate of DR in China can be improved and blindness can be reduced by DR through Expert consensus on community screening of diabetic retinopathy and interpretation of the content.
Neovascularization is a characteristic manifestation of a variety of retinal diseases. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mainly regulates the proliferation and migration of endothelial cells. VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) is the main receptor to mediate this effect. The activation of downstream signals requires the binding of VEGF and VEGFR2, followed by receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation. Blocking this process and inhibiting neovascularization is very attractive treatment ideas. Monoclonal antibodies and fusion protein drugs currently used in ophthalmology can bind free VEGF. In addition, there are also macromolecular antibodies binding VEGFR2 and small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which is expected to further expand into the field of ophthalmology. Although anti-VEGFR2 therapy is a revolutionary method to inhibit neovascularization, there are no sufficient clinical evidences at present. In-depth understanding of the application status and progress of anti-VEGFR2 in the treatment of retinal neovascular diseases has important clinical significance.