EDITORIAL EDITORIAL

In this issue of the ABO

Wallace Chamon

Physician, Department of Ophthalmology, Escola Paulista de Medicina - EPM, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP - São Paulo (SP), Brazil

Several original and unpublished articles of great clinical importance are published in this issue of the ABO, showing that, increasingly, the authors recognize the quality and comprehensiveness of our journal.

A publication with the highest incidence of infectious endophthalmitis by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the world⁽¹⁾ revealed that 20% of the 45 eyes that underwent vitrectomy presented visual acuity of at least 20/200. Although the source of the outbreak has not been identified, all patients had undergone cataract surgery by phacoemulsification in a single institution in a given period of two days. This leads to the conclusion that it was an intraoperative source and forces readers to question the antiseptic methods currently used in eye surgery.

Again the theme of evidence-based medicine is covered in ABO. A systematic review of the risks and benefits of radiotherapy, with or without the use of glucocorticoids, for the treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy presented in this issue is the most comprehensive ever published in the world literature⁽²⁾. The authors identified 359 scientific articles on the subject in the various data sources and selected the eight ones that were randomized controlled trials, with data available. With the meta-analysis of 439 patients involved in these studies, the authors concluded that radiotherapy, especially when associated with glucocorticoid treatment, is effective in the active phase of the disease and must be indicated in the earlier stages of the same.

Two unpublished case reports are presented in this issue: the first report of buphthalmos in adult⁽³⁾ and the first publication of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy⁽⁴⁾. The first makes readers question the importance of assessing scleral elasticity in different stages of life and in different diseases, while the second shows an excellent correlation with the OCT images and pathology, including the typical birefringence under polarized light observed in this dystrophy.

The prevalence of the causes of blindness in Paraguay, was evaluated in an epidemiological study conducted by Paraguayan institutions in collaboration with authors from U.S. institutions and from the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)⁽⁵⁾. The authors found a lower prevalence of visual impairment in relation the only previous population-based study from the same country, in 2003⁽⁶⁾. The importance of this paper lies in the fact that, although almost 10% of people with bilateral blindness live in the Americas, methodologically appropriate, ophthalmic population-based studies are infrequent in Latin America⁽⁷⁾.

Also in this issue, it has been described, for the first time, the effects of a neurotoxin isolated from the venom of a South American rattlesnake in the external ocular muscles⁽⁸⁾. The crotoxin was applied to the superior rectus muscle of rabbits and compared with botulinum toxin type A. The authors concluded that, when used at a concentration of 1.5 µg, the effect of the crotoxin was similar to botulinum toxin type A.

REFERENCES

1. Guerra RLL, Freitas BP, Parcero CMFM, Maia Jr OO, Marback RL. An outbreak of forty five cases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa acute endophthalmitis after phacoemulsification. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):344-7.         

2. Viani GA, Boin AC, de Fendi LI, Fonseca EC, Stefano EJ, de Paula JS. Radiation therapy for Graves' ophthalmopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):324-32.         

3. Alves M, Malki LT, Rocha EM. Buphthalmos development in adult: case report. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):361-2.         

4. Magalhães OA, Rymer S, Marinho DR, Kwitko S, Cardoso IH, Kliemann L. Optical coherence tomography image in gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy: case report. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):356-7.         

5. Yaacov-Peña F, Jure D, Ocampos J, Samudio M, Furtado JM, Carter MJ, Lansingh VC. Prevalence and causes of blindness in an urban area of Paraguay. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):341-3.         

6. Duerksen R, Limburg H, Carron JE, Foster A. Cataract blindness in Paraguay results of a national survey. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2003;10(5):349-57.         

7. Pascolini D, Mariotti SP. Global estimates of visual impairment - 2010. Br J Ophthalmol. 2012;96(5):614-8.         

8. Ribeiro GB, Almeida HC, Velaverde DT, Sá MLVM. Study of crotoxin on the induction of paralysis in extraocular muscle in animal model. Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2012;75(5):307-12.         

Submitted for publication: October 5, 2012
Accepted for publication: October 5, 2012
Funding: No specific financial support was available for this study.
Disclosure of potencial of interest: W.Chamon, None.