Biomedical subjects

Abebe Bejiga

Publications and source records attributed to Abebe Bejiga.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Outcome of corneal transplantation.

Corneal transplantation is a sight restoring surgery done for corneal blindness. The purpose of this retrospective preliminary study is to analyze the outcome of 54 corneal transplantations (for 32 females and 22 males) done in the Department of Ophthalmology between September 1998 and June 2002. The mean follow-up period was 13 months. Hundred percent (6/6) of the keratoconus (KC) and 85.4% of the nonkeratoconus grafts survived at a mean duration of 7.1 months and 16 months respectively. Seven of the 54 grafts (13%) have failed. The causes of graft failure were graft rejction in 4 and bacterial keratitis in 3 cases. Fifty of the 54 cases (92.6%) had a preoperative visual acuity of < 3/60. As a result of the transplantation, the percentage of blind eyes dropped from 92.6% to 21%. The data in this study confirms that corneal transplantation is a reasonably successful procedure in restoring sight for seleted cases of corneal blindness in Ethiopia.

Blindness↗

PubMed2004

Surgery for trichiasis by ophthalmologists versus integrated eye care workers: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To study the outcome of bilamellar tarsal rotation (BTR) trichiasis surgery performed by ophthalmologists versus that done by integrated eye care workers (IECWs). DESIGN: Randomized prospective interventional trial. PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred eighty-two patients with various degrees of trachomatous trichiasis in central Ethiopia. METHODS: Trachomatous trichiasis patients in 3 woredas (districts) in central Ethiopia were enrolled. Trichiasis severity was graded. Patients were randomly assigned to surgery by 2 ophthalmologists and 2 IECWs. On the seventh day postoperatively, patients were evaluated for undercorrection or other complications. If trichiasis was present, it was considered a failure of surgery (technical failure), and patients were excluded from the follow-up study, but repeat surgery was performed. Those patients with good correction at the seventh day were examined again on the third and sixth months. Further follow-up evaluation is planned for the first, second, and third years postoperatively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Recurrence rate, recurrence difference in the various grades, and difference between surgeries done by ophthalmic surgeons and those done by IECWs. RESULTS: In the third month of follow-up, it was possible to locate 713 (73.0%) of the operated patients. Eighty-one of 713 (11.4%) individuals and 94 of 1286 (5.4%) operated lids developed recurrent trichiasis in this period. There was a linear trend of recurrence with grading (severity) at baseline (chi(2) = 22.017, P<0.001), but there was no difference in recurrence by age (chi(2) =1.53, P = 0.9 at the third month; chi(2) = 1.43, P = 0.9 at the sixth month). There was also no difference with regard to gender (0.38 < odds ratio < 1.14, P = 0.1). The recurrence observed in the group of individuals operated on by ophthalmologists at the 3-month follow-up was 47 (12.1%) lids, and the recurrence observed in the group operated on by the IECWs was 34 (9.9%) lids, with no statistically significant difference (chi(2) =1.38, P = 0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI], -18% to 74%). At the 6-month follow-up, 43 (6.2%) persons had recurrence (95% CI, 4.4%-8%). There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups of surgeons at the 6-month point of follow-up examination (chi(2) = 4.46, P = 0.2). The overall recurrence was 124 (14.3%) lids within the first 6 months. CONCLUSION: Recurrent trichiasis is common, especially in cases where the degree of trichiasis is severe at baseline. This suggests that these patients may need surgical overcorrection to decrease the recurrence rate. The outcome of BTR surgery done by IECWs is similar to that of the ophthalmic surgeons. Because of these findings, we recommend that training of IECWs in trichiasis surgery may help to ameliorate the effects of the eye care worker shortage in developing countries.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

The impact of water supply on trachoma prevalence.

In 1998, a baseline study of the prevalence of trachoma was conducted in Dalocha District before pipe water supply was made in 1999. This cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of active trachoma in children aged 1-10 years old was conducted in the same area in March-May, 2002 to assess the impact of water supply on trachoma prevalence. Cluster sampling method was used to identify the villages and households in the previously studied five peasant associations. All children 1-10 years of age from the selected households were examined for the presence of active trachoma (trachomatous follicles, TF, and trachomatous intense inflammation, TI). A total of 644 children, 328 (50.9%) males and 316 (49.1) females, from 329 households were examined. Of these, 358 (55.6%) had active trachoma with 235 (36.5%) having TF and 123 (19.1%) TI. This figure was comparable with the previous report from the same age group and area which was 51.1%. In conclusion, despite improvement in water supply, the difference in the overall prevalence of active trachoma was statistically not significant (p-value = 0.074) from the result of the previous study. Thus, unless it is accompanied by health education to bring about community's behavioral change regarding the importance of personal and environmental hygiene, improvement in water supply seems to have no effect on the prevalence of active trachoma.

Child↗

PubMed2003

Modified grading system for upper eyelid trachomatous trichiasis.

AIM: This study was conducted to determine the level of inter-observer agreement in the modified grading scheme for trichiasis of the upper eyelid. METHODS: A grading system that covers the entire spectrum of trachomatous trichiasis, extending from the simple to the severe forms, was initially developed by the first and second authors and field-tested. The grading scheme recognizes three levels of severity, based on deviation of the lid margin (TT1, TT2 and TT3); and four anatomical locations indicating where the eyelashes touch the globe in TT1 (nasal, central, temporal, or combined). The grading of trichiasis patients was then conducted on the basis of the modified grading scheme. RESULTS: The inter-observer agreement between the grades of simple trichiasis (TT1) and entropion (TT2) using Cronbach's alpha was 0.84, and the agreement within each sub-grade was 0.86. The weighted Kappa value was 0.68 (95% CI 0.57-0.79) for the main grades and 0.49 (95% CI 0.23-0.79) for the sub-grades. CONCLUSIONS: The inter-observer agreement was very reliable and could easily be attained by all levels of ophthalmic professionals. As the grading follows the natural progression of trichiasis from the simple to the severe forms in relation to the anatomical site involved, it helps to determine the degree of correction and how far to extend the surgical incision.

Eyelashes↗

PubMed2002

Posterior fossa tumor presenting with bilateral proptosis and blindness.

It is very unusual for a posterior fossa tumor to present with proptosis. A 24 years old female patient who had a CT Scan proven posterior fossa tumor presented with severe headache, bilateral proptosis and blindness is reported. The rarity of the cause of proptosis and blindness and also the difficulty in reaching at the clinical diagnosis is discussed.

Adult↗