We aimed to evaluate the neuroprotective efficacy of rasagiline in pseudophakic patients who had surgery for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). This was a 6-month, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study. Patients presenting with acute macula-off RRD were recruited and randomized 1:1 to receive rasagiline 1 mg/day or placebo for 7 days. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography were acquired 1 day before as well as 2 days, 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after surgery. We screened 26 patients with RRD whereof 23 were eventually included and randomized. The primary outcome was final BCVA. Secondary outcomes included central retinal thickness (CRT) and adverse events (AE). We evaluated photoreceptor cells (prc) recovery through morphological measurements. The baseline characteristics were comparable between groups. BCVA significantly improved in both groups (letters gained: rasagiline 61.5 ± 18.1 vs placebo 55.3 ± 29.2, p = 0.56), but no significant inter-group difference was found at any visit. CRT was stable 3 weeks after surgery onwards, with no inter-group difference. No treatment-emergent AE occurred. Significant prc restoration was observed from 3 weeks to 6 months after surgery, without inter-group difference at either visit. Ellipsoid zone integrity (β = 0.517, p = 0.008) and foveal bulge (β = 0.387, p = 0.038) were significant predictors of good final BCVA. In conclusion, perioperative oral treatment with rasagiline 1 mg/day for 7 days did not show significant benefits on visual or anatomical outcomes in macula-off RRD patients.

To the Editor: We congratulate Munk et al for their study entitled “Idiopathic Multifocal Choroiditis/Punctate Inner Choroidopathy with Acute Photoreceptor Loss or Dysfunction out of Proportion to Clinically Visible Lesions.” The authors presented eight patients with idiopathic multifocal choroiditis/punctate inner choroidopathy. The authors reported acute photoreceptor attenuation surrounding the chorioretinal lesions and stated that full-field electroretinogram cone/rod response showed markedly decreased responses and multifocal electroretinogram revealed reduced amplitudes and increased implicit times in two cases. Fullfield electroretinogram represents the mass response of the retina to a flash of light. Markedly reduced responses in full-field electroretinogram shows generalized retinal dysfunction including the peripheral retina. There are a very limited number of ocular electrophysiologic studies in this group of patients. For this reason, we kindly ask the authors to share the full-field electroretinogram printouts. Secondly, do the authors think that the use of the terms of “multifocal choroiditis” and “punctate inner choroidopathy” may be left because of the data they presented and also because of the markedly reduced full-field electroretinogram results?

OBJECTIVESIt has been suggested that CD44 is involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). By alternative splicing, numerous CD44 isoforms can be generated which may play different roles the inflammatory process. We therefore studied the expression of various CD44 splicevariants in the circulation and synovial tissue of patients with RA and correlated expression with clinical features.METHODSExpression of distinct CD44 splice variants was analysed by FACS in peripheral monocytes of 46 RA patients and 36 healthy controls. Expression of CD44 splice variants in synovial tissue of RA and OA patients was analysed by immunohistochemistry and the effects of blocking CD44v4 on RA-fibroblast like synoviocytes (FLS) were studied.RESULTSOn monocytes, the expression of CD44 and CD44v3 was significantly lower in patients with erosive disease than in those without radiographic progression (p<0.05 for CD44 and p<0.01 for CD44v3). CD44v6 on monocytes was significantly associated with the clinical disease activity index (r=0.34, p<0.05) and CRP-levels (r=0.37, p<0.02). Immunhistochemical analyses revealed that most variants were expressed to a significantly higher extent in RA than in OA synovial membranes. Particularly the variants CD44v4, CD44v6 and CD44v7-8 were highly expressed in the RA lining and also abundantly in the endothelium. Blocking CD44v4 in RA-FLS reduced the proliferation to 68±8% (p<0.02) when compared to control experiments and led to a reduction in IL-1ß mRNA expression (p<0.05).CONCLUSIONSExpression of CD44 splice variants is generally increased in the synovial lining of RA patients when compared to OA. The inverse association of CD44v3 expression on monocytes with the development of erosive disease and the functional impacts of CD44v4 blockade in RA-FLS suggests a pathogenetic role of this splice variants which needs to be further investigated.