PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F M Grignolo

Publications and source records attributed to F M Grignolo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Transpupillary thermotherapy of juxtafoveal recurrent choroidal neovascularization.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of low power transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) in treating juxtafoveal recurrent choroidal neovascularization (CNV) after laser photocoagulation in patients with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). METHODS: Eight eyes of eight patients with ARMD and juxtafoveal recurrent CNV were treated with low power TTT, delivered using an 810-nm diode laser with 350 mW, 2.0 mm spot, and 1-minute duration. Visual acuity (VA) ranged from 20/100 to 20/50. Treatment effect was evaluated by fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and VA measurements (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study) at 1-week, 2-week, and monthly follow-up visits. RESULTS: No retinal damage was visible ophthalmoscopically during treatment. At the first follow-up visit, seven eyes had obliteration of CNV and one eye required a second TTT application. VA was unchanged in six eyes, improved in one eye, and worsened in one eye. Recurrences occurred in all eyes between 1 and 7 months after TTT and were treated with photodynamic therapy (PDT). More than two PDT treatments were performed in each eye in the year after recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Low power TTT is as able to close juxtafoveal recurrent CNV as is high power conventional laser photocoagulation but does not prevent recurrences. Further intervention with TTT in order to treat recurrences is under investigation.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Molecular basis of open-angle glaucoma in Italy.

Glaucoma is a group of ocular diseases characterized by an optic neuropathy in which degeneration of retinal ganglion cells leads to a characteristic excavation of the optic nerve head. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) can be subdivided into two groups according to age of onset:- 1. the more common middle- to late-age onset, chronic open-angle glaucoma (COAG) diagnosed after the age of 40 years; 2. the rarer juvenile open-angle glaucoma (JOAG), which is diagnosed between the age of 3 years and early adulthood. Recently, the gene coding for the trabecular meshwork-induced glucocorticoid response protein (TIGR), located in chromosome 1 (1q23-25), was found mutated in patients affected by POAG. In this work we describe the clinical and molecular genetic features of several Italian families affected by autosomal dominant POAG, collected in various regions of Italy.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Evaluation of serotonin levels in human aqueous humor.

PURPOSE: Serotonin is biochemically present in the iris and ciliary body of animals and humans. Controversial findings are reported about the concentrations of serotonin in aqueous humor with respect to plasma in humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of serotonin both in aqueous humor and plasma in human subjects. METHODS: In 50 patients with glaucoma or cataract, plasma and aqueous humor serotonin levels were measured by HPLC with electrochemical detection. Serotonin plasma levels were also measured in 25 healthy subjects as controls. RESULTS: In all patients with cataract or glaucoma, the aqueous humor serotonin concentration is significantly lower than that in plasma [1.14+/-0.29 (SEM) vs. 5.33+/-1.03 ng/ml, p<0.01]. Furthermore, in the same patients and in 25 healthy controls, serotonin plasma levels were similar. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that serotonin is present in human aqueous humor and its concentration is 4 times lower than in plasma.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Changes in adrenergic innervation of the choroid during aging].

BACKGROUND: Aging causes loss of neurons and adrenergic nerve termination in various human organism systems and apparatus. The aim of this work is the observation of qualitative and quantitative differences in the orientation and density of the human choroid adrenergic innervation in relation to age. METHODS: The choroid specimens were taken from the corresponding sectors of the eyeballs of four patients aged between 70 and 75 years and patients aged between 40 and 45 years. The glyoxilic method of Furness and Costa (1975) was used. RESULTS: The location and orientation of the adrenergic fibres was similar in the adult and aged patients. However, the fibres are clearly fewer in number, less rich in varicosity and have reduced fluorescence. In the suprachoroid lamina thickness and in the vascular layer, the adrenergic synaptic contacts with the melanocytes are fewer in number, as are also the SIF-cells (small intensely fluorescent cells). CONCLUSIONS: With age there is a significant reduction of the orthosympathetic innervation of the human choroid. This fact could explain some physiopathological aspects of the choroid circulation and blood flow and, therefore, play a part in ocular pression variations.

Adrenergic Fibers↗
PubMed1988

Evaluation of macular function by Lotmar's visometer test and blue-field entoptic test in patients with cataract.

The authors attempted to predict postoperative visual acuity in patients undergoing cataract extraction by comparing the results obtained using two subjective methods: Lotmar's visometer test and the blue-field entoptic (BFE) test. Both tests allow assessment of retinal visual acuity in the presence of opacities of the ocular media. Measurements were made on 60 patients before cataract extraction. These subjects were followed for three months in order to assess their postoperative visual acuity and to ascertain the reliability of the tests. Analysis of the data demonstrates the high level of reliability of both methods. Lotmar's visometer test gives a more exact assessment of macular function. However, in the presence of total lens opacity, the BFE test becomes necessary since Lotmar's test loses reliability in such cases.

Cataract↗
PubMed1988

Assessment of malingerers' visual acuity by Lotmar's visometer test.

The authors, after having mentioned several methods to detect malingering, have attempted to demonstrate the reliability of Lotmar's visometer test in assessing the real visual acuity of ten malingerers (five of whom denied bilateral vision). The authors confirmed their data with several other subjective and objective methods that demonstrated the reliability of the visometer test.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1977

[Variations of intraocular pressure induced by psychological stress (author's transl)].

Peculiar psychic reactivity of glaucomatous patients detected clinically and widely treated in the literature, has led us to study the behaviour of intraocular pressure in normal and glaucomatous subjects when submitted to various stresses. The data obtained show that prolonged stress increases intraocular pressure in normal subjects, unlike shorter stress which only causes an increase of intraocular pressure in glaucomatous patients. The possible genesis of the phenomenon is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fluorescence histochemical demonstration of adrenergic terminations in the human choroid.

With the existing literature on the aspects of anatomic and physiological ocular choroid membrane variables in mind, the authors verify the possibility of applying the methods of Axelsson et al and of Lindvall and Bjorklund, as simplified by Furness and Costa for fluorescent microscopy, to the study of human choroid nerve topographic distribution. The material for the study was obtained from three human eyeballs, two enucleated because of malignant melanoma of the choroid and one because of neoplasia of the ciliary body. A binocular dissecting microscope was used. A fluorescent microscope was used to observe the histological specimens and photographs were taken. The following results are presented and discussed: 1) the fluorescent paravascular nervous fibres and periarterial nervous plexuses divided into preterminal and terminal fibres; 2) in the suprachoroidal layer, there were small groups of polygonal nervous branches with or without this connection; 3) the most intervasal plexus development was in the posterior part of the vascular layer with preterminal and terminal fibres, 4) in the intervascular space, melanocytes and free adrenergic nervous terminations were observed; 5) adrenergic fibres were not observed in the choriocapillaris of the choroid membrane; 6) there were adrenergic neurons in the vascular layer.

Choroid↗