Conjunctival flaps

PURPOSE: The authors reviewed their experience with total conjunctival flaps (TCF) and partial conjunctival flaps (PCF) for the past 5 years in 61 patients. METHODS: Forty-eight patients had TCF and 13 had PCF. Diagnoses for surgery included severe bullous keratopathy for chronic graft failure (not candidates for keratoplasty) (19), herpes zoster ophthalmicus (7), chronic ulcerative keratitis (14), neurotrophic keratitis (2), and herpes simplex keratitis (9). RESULTS: There were seven complications. Four flap retractions occurred in the TCF group, requiring resuturing in two. Three complications occurred in the PCF group. One patient had two flap retractions and recurrent ulceration, requiring tarsorrhaphy. One patient with PCF suffered a perforation after flap retraction, necessitating penetrating keratoplasty. CONCLUSION: The authors believe conjunctival flaps are underused and should be considered seriously for bullous keratopathy, neurotrophic keratitis, recalcitrant keratitis, and persistent nonhealing epithelial defects.     

Comparative neuroprotective properties of the benzodiazepine receptor full agonist diazepam and the partial agonist PNU-101017 in the gerbil forebrain ischemia model

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of propiverine hydrochloride (P4) and its main metabolite, propiverine N-oxide (P4NO) in human serum. P4 has been shown to be efficacious in those patients who have either idiopathic bladder instability, or neurogenic bladder (detrusor hyperflexia) resulting from spinal cord injuries. In the present method, the analytes were extracted from serum (1 ml, pH 8) into methyl tert.-butyl ether. The separation was performed on a reversed-phase C8 (RP-select B) column using phosphate buffer-acetonitrile (30:70, v/v). UV absorption was used for measuring the analytes, with a limit of quantitation of about 10 ng/ml, which is appropriate for pharmacokinetic studies.