Ahmed Sherif

Ocular surface disease, including dry eye disease and meibomian gland dysfunction, is highly prevalent among women of reproductive age and significantly affects visual comfort and quality of life.1...

Background: The inflammation and repair of the intestinal mucosa in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involve a complex interplay between innate, adaptive immune responses, and hormones. This may explain the relapsing clinical course of the disease.Methods: We present the first reported case of a patient presenting their initial flare of ulcerative colitis immediately after discontinuing growth hormone (GH) therapy, suggesting treatment with GH or growth factors may prevent the development of IBD.Results: This is a case of a 13-year-old female with a history of GH deficiency, presenting with an 8-week history of abdominal pain, blood-stained diarrhea, and fecal calprotectin greater than 8000 mcg/g, 2 weeks after discontinuing GH therapy. The patient subsequently underwent an esophagoduodenoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies showing histological features consistent with ulcerative colitis.Conclusions: The finding of withdrawing GH or growth factors therapy potentially unmasking IBD in this patient raises a question of whether growth factors can inhibit the development of IBD and suggests beneficial effects of treatment with GH or growth factors as adjuvant therapy for IBD.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 beta (HNF1B) gene is predominantly expressed in the liver, kidney, lung, genitourinary tract, and pancreas. It is an important transcription factor that regulates pancreas development. Mutation or absence of this gene is rare and can cause incomplete pancreatic development known as the agenesis of the dorsal pancreas. This rare genetic abnormality is associated with other disorders like maturity-onset diabetes of the young, abnormal liver function tests, genitourinary tract malformation, pancreatitis, and renal cysts. Diagnosing this genetic abnormality is difficult, especially in patients presenting with symptoms specific to only one system. Management is based on disease manifestation and involves a multidisciplinary approach. Our case describes a 51-year-old female with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and Mullerian duct anomalies who presented with abdominal pain, fatigue, dizziness, and electrolyte derangement. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) of the abdomen showed a multicystic kidney and a pancreatic head with a missing body and tail. Further workup revealed an HNF1B mutation.

Endoscopic stricturotomy with pulsed argon plasma and balloon dilation for refractory benign colorectal strictures: a case series Saad Emhmed Ali, Avinash Bhakta, Robert-Marlo Bautista, Ahmed Sherif, Wesam Frandah

Purpose of the Study: To compare visual outcome, higher order aberrations (HOAs) of topography guided and Q value adjusted ablation in the fellow eye of patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for the correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism. Methods: Prospective randomized controlled interventional clinical study. The eyes of 52 patients undergoing PRK for myopia and astigmatism were included, that is, 104 eyes in total. In each patient, eyes were randomly allocated to group I: one eye received topography guided PRK using Contoura ablation software, or group II: the other eye received Q value adjusted PRK using Custom Q ablation software. Follow-Up: Six months. Results: At the end of 6 months, LogMAR UDVA was − 0.04 ± 0.12 and − 0.05 ± 0.11 (p = 0.688), while LogMAR CDVA was − 0.06 ± 0.09 and − 0.06 ± 0.1 in group I and group II, respectively (p = 0.972). Both groups showed a progressive oblate shift with time. This oblate shift was insignificantly less in group I by Topolyzer at 6mm, 15° and 30° at 6 months (p = 0.102, p = 0.138, p = 0.245, respectively). Topolyzer identified a significant difference between the change in coma and trefoil in both groups at 6 months (p< 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). This was caused by the significant worsening of coma in group II (p< 0.001) and the significant improvement of trefoil in group I (p = 0.007). No significant difference was found between groups in the change of ISV or ABR (p = 0.955 and 0.982, respectively). Ablation depth is a significant predictor of ΔQ at 6mm, 15° and 30° (p = 0.009, 0.039 and 0, respectively). No significant difference was found in the Strehl ratio or contrast sensitivity, although they were insignificantly better in group I (p = 0.785 and p = 0.745, respectively). Conclusion: TG PRK and CQ PRK yielded similar results regarding UDVA, CDVA, MRSE, safety, predictability and contrast sensitivity. Both groups showed a progressive oblate shift, which was less in the TG group but the difference was statistically insignificant. TG PRK showed significantly improved trefoil HOA as compared to CQ PRK.

Aim. This is a prospective interventional clinical trial to assess the depth of the demarcation line in transepithelial versus epithelium-off accelerated corneal cross-linking (AXL) in keratoconus patients. Methods. This prospective clinical trial was conducted on 40 eyes of 20 patients. Each patient had transepithelial AXL in one eye and epithelium-off AXL in the contralateral eye applying UVA light with an irradiance of 45 mW/cm2 for 2.4 minutes and 30 mW/cm2 for 4 minutes. The depth of the demarcation line was measured using anterior segment OCT (Topcon 3D OCT-2000) one month postoperative for both eyes. Results. The demarcation line was patchy in 50% of the transepithelial AXL eyes, the other half showing a demarcation line at a mean depth of 183 ± 41.6 μm. In the epithelium-off AXL technique, the demarcation line was well defined in all cases with a mean depth of 219 ± 27.3 μm. There was a statistically significant difference in corneal demarcation line depth between transepithelial and epithelium-off techniques ( = 0.008 and < 0.05). The shallower demarcation line in the transepithelial group suggests that it is less effective. Conclusion. Based on the depth of the demarcation line, the cross-linking effect of epi-off AXL seems more efficacious than after transepithelial AXL. The future will show if the biomechanical effect will be sufficient to stop progression of keratoconus similarly after standard CXL. This trial is registered with NCT04045626.

Purpose: To discuss the limitations and benefits of the BrightOcular prosthetic artificial iris device in management of aniridia associated with aphakia or cataract. Methods: This is a retrospective study including 5 eyes of 4 patients who underwent implantation of the BrightOcular iris prosthesis (Stellar Devices) for total or partial aniridia. The cases included 2 eyes of 1 patient with congenital aniridia associated with congenital cataract and 3 eyes with traumatic aniridia: 1 with subluxated cataractous lens and 2 with aphakia. In all cases, the iris prosthesis was implanted after a 3-piece acrylic intraocular lens was implanted. We evaluated the clinical course with a minimum follow-up period of 6 months, the intraoperative and postoperative complications, and the cosmetic satisfaction of patients. Results: All patients had improved uncorrected distance visual acuity and best-corrected distance visual acuity. All patients had a transient corneal edema that resolved within the first postoperative week. Only the patient with congenital aniridia had a permanent increase in intraocular pressure and developed a band keratopathy throughout a 2-year follow-up period. The prosthesis was well-centered in all eyes except for one case that required scleral suture fixation after 3 months. All patients had a satisfactory cosmetic appearance. Conclusions: BrightOcular iris prosthesis is a safe and useful tool to correct aniridia associated with pseudophakia or aphakia. Being foldable, it is easy to be implanted through a small incision and placed in the ciliary sulcus without sutures when properly sized. Cosmetic results are satisfactory. Sizing methods should be improved.