The year 2021 at the COS

As 2021 has come to an end, the Centre for Ophthalmic Specialised care (COS) has continued to receive many patients to whom care of the best possible quality has been administered, thanks to our ever-dynamic and competent collaborators and also thanks to my colleague, Doctor Ioannis Papasavvas, who is making a fellowship (postgraduate training) in inflammatory and retinal eye diseases at our centre. We thank our colleagues who trusted us and sent us patients who needed specialised consultations.

The COS has published no fewer than 22 articles in international scientific peer-reviewed journals. The list of published articles can be found below. Thus, we published a review on imaging investigational methods in inflammatory eye diseases in 2 articles in the well-known journal “Eye (London)”. We also reviewed the management of ocular inflammation in children in two articles. Several articles have concerned choroid diseases that are difficult to diagnose and especially difficult to treat. We also reported on side effects following CoVid vaccination such as reactivation of ocular herpes simplex uveitis and shingles. These are side effects that are easy to treat thanks to the anti-inflammatory and anti-viral substances we have at our disposal today.

We also did an extensive review of a little-known and misunderstood eye disease: HLA-A29 birdshot retinochoroiditis.

Most of these items are freely accessible.

  1. Papasavvas I, Mantovani A, Tugal-Tutkun I, Herbort CP Jr. Multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS): update on practical appraisal, diagnosis and clinicopathology; a review and an alternative comprehensive perspective. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Dec 18;11(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00279-7. PMID: 34921620.
  2. Herbort CP Jr, Neri P, Papasavvas I. Clinicopathology of non-infectious choroiditis: evolution of its appraisal during the last 2-3 decades from “white dot syndromes” to precise classification. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Nov 17;11(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00274-y. PMID: 34787732; PMCID: PMC8599546.
  3. Neri P, Herbort CP Jr, Hedayatfar A, Tugal-Tutkun I, Cimino L, Urzua CA, Papasavvas I, Takeuchi M, Lages V. “White dot syndromes”, an inappropriate and outdated misnomer. Int Ophthalmol. 2021 Nov 16. doi: 10.1007/s10792-021-02121-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34783928.
  4. Herbort CP Jr, Papasavvas I. Effect of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination on ocular herpes simplex and varicella-zoster virus reactivation: should preventive antiviral treatment be given in known herpes patients. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Sep 17;11(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00262-2. PMID: 34533628; PMCID: PMC8446741.
  5. Papasavvas I, de Courten C, Herbort CP Jr. Varicella-zoster virus reactivation causing herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination – report of three cases. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Sep 16;11(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00260-4. PMID: 34529153; PMCID: PMC8443850.
  6. Papadia M, Pavésio C, Fardeau C, Neri P, Kestelyn PG, Papasavvas I, Herbort CP. HLA-A29 Birdshot Retinochoroiditis in Its 5th Decade: Selected Glimpses into the Intellectual Meanderings and Progresses in the Knowledge of a Long-Time Misunderstood Disease. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Jul 19;11(7):1291. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11071291. PMID: 34359373; PMCID: PMC8305470.
  7. AlBloushi AF, Herbort CP Jr, Abu El-Asrar AM. Initial-onset acute uveitis associated with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease presenting with unilateral exudative retinal detachment despite bilateral choroidal involvement. Int Ophthalmol. 2021 Dec;41(12):4187-4195. doi: 10.1007/s10792-021-01989-6. Epub 2021 Aug 3. PMID: 34346004.
  8. Tran L, Papasavvas I, Fleischhauer J, Herbort CP Jr. Peripheral Inflammatory Yellow Exudative Retinal Coats-Like Vitreoretinopathy Misdiagnosed as Acute Retinal Necrosis in a Retinitis Pigmentosa Patient after Cataract Surgery. Case Rep Ophthalmol. 2021 Jun 18;12(2):562-568. doi: 10.1159/000516312. PMID: 34248592; PMCID: PMC8255695.
  9. Papasavvas I, Herbort CP Jr. Reactivation of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease under control for more than 6 years, following anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Jul 5;11(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00251-5. PMID: 34224024; PMCID: PMC8256412.
  10. Herbort CP Jr, Arapi I, Papasavvas I, Mantovani A, Jeannin B. Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy (AZOOR) Results from a Clinicopathological Mechanism Different from Choriocapillaritis Diseases: A Multimodal Imaging Analysis. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Jun 29;11(7):1184. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11071184. PMID: 34209956; PMCID: PMC8303680.
  11. Herbort CP Jr, Tugal-Tutkun I, Abu-El-Asrar A, Gupta A, Takeuchi M, Fardeau C, Hedayatfar A, Urzua C, Papasavvas I. Precise, simplified diagnostic criteria and optimised management of initial-onset Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: an updated review. Eye (Lond). 2021 Jun 18. doi: 10.1038/s41433-021-01573-3. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34145419.
  12. Herbort CP Jr, Mantovani A, Tugal-Tutkun I, Papasavvas I. Classification of Non-Infectious and/or Immune Mediated Choroiditis: A Brief Overview of the Essentials. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 May 24;11(6):939. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11060939. PMID: 34073914; PMCID: PMC8225100.
  13. Papasavvas I, Jeannin B, Herbort CP. When HIV Immunodeficiency and Heterochromia Confuse the Issue: Recurrent Zoster Uveitis Mistaken for Fuchs’ Uveitis. J Ophthalmic Vis Res. 2021 Apr 29;16(2):295-299. doi: 10.18502/jovr.v16i2.9094. PMID: 34055267; PMCID: PMC8126730.
  14. Papasavvas I, Herbort CP Jr. Cytomegalovirus Anterior Uveitis from the Perspective of the Common Practitioner: Missed Diagnosis Can Be at the Origin of Severe Functional Loss – A Scenario to Be Avoided. Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2021 Apr;238(4):448-453. English. doi: 10.1055/a-1425-4809. Epub 2021 Apr 30. PMID: 33930916.
  15. Papasavvas I, Gehrig B, Herbort CP Jr. The Comparative Value of Serum Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and Lysozyme and the Use of Polyclonal Antibody Activation in the Work-up of Ocular Sarcoidosis. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Mar 29;11(4):608. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11040608. PMID: 33805490; PMCID: PMC8066732.
  16. Papasavvas I, Herbort CP Jr. Granulomatous Features in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Associated Uveitis is Not a Rare Occurrence. Clin Ophthalmol. 2021 Mar 8;15:1055-1059. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S299436. PMID: 33727787; PMCID: PMC7953884.
  17. Papasavvas I, Gehrig B, Herbort CP Jr. Clinical Course and Treatment Paradigms for JIA-related Uveitis and Pars Planitis Uveitis Using Precise Ocular Investigational Methods. Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2021 Apr;238(4):458-468. English. doi: 10.1055/a-1354-6452. Epub 2021 Feb 19. PMID: 33607692.
  18. Papasavvas I, Gehrig B, Herbort CP Jr. Clinical Course and Treatment Paradigms for JIA-related Uveitis and Pars Planitis Uveitis Using Precise Ocular Investigational Methods. Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2021 Apr;238(4):458-468. English. doi: 10.1055/a-1354-6452. Epub 2021 Feb 19. PMID: 33607692.
  19. Papasavvas I, Herbort CP Jr. Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is always bilateral: reports of unilateral cases failed to use choroidal investigations showing subclinical involvement of the fellow eye. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect. 2021 Feb 9;11(1):6. doi: 10.1186/s12348-021-00237-3. PMID: 33559795; PMCID: PMC7873149.
  20. Abouammoh MA, De Simone L, Almousa AN, Al-Dossari M, Herbort CP, Abu El-Asrar AM. Indocyanine green angiographic findings in presumed intraocular tuberculosis. Eye (Lond). 2021 Jun;35(6):1680-1687. doi: 10.1038/s41433-020-01144-y. Epub 2020 Aug 24. PMID: 32839556; PMCID: PMC8169866.
  21. Herbort CP Jr, Tugal-Tutkun I, Mantovani A, Neri P, Khairallah M, Papasavvas I. Advances and potential new developments in imaging techniques for posterior uveitis Part 2: invasive imaging methods. Eye (Lond). 2021 Jan;35(1):52-73. doi: 10.1038/s41433-020-1072-0. Epub 2020 Aug 10. PMID: 32778739; PMCID: PMC7852522.
  22. Tugal-Tutkun I, Herbort CP Jr, Mantovani A, Neri P, Khairallah M. Advances and potential new developments in imaging techniques for posterior uveitis. Part 1: noninvasive imaging methods. Eye (Lond). 2021 Jan;35(1):33-51. doi: 10.1038/s41433-020-1063-1. Epub 2020 Jul 16. PMID: 32678354; PMCID: PMC7852509.