Athens protocol procedure

PURPOSE: Outcome of topography-guided excimer laser ablation in conjunction with accelerated, high-fluence cross-linking in corneal ecstatic disease using the NIDEK CXIII equipped with CATz algorithm from the FinalFit software-"Bharat Protocol." METHODS: Retrospective case record review of 30 eyes of 17 patients of stage 1-3 keratoconus who underwent the procedure was performed. Data collected were for visual acuity, distortion-induced eye pain, and keratometry...

Background and Objectives : In 1989, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), with a considerable number of the Articles of the Convention being related to the health status of children. Therefore, adhering to and assessing the implementation of the rights of children during hospitalization is a very important step towards child protection. Herein, we attempt to highlight the depth of knowledge of employees working in children's hospitals with regard to children's rights as well as the degree of adherence to the UNCRC with respect to hospitalized children...

The use of technological means in the process of neuropsychological assessment has been proposed as a technique with promising results in the field of detection of neurocognitive disorders for community-dwelling older adults. Especially during the pandemic period due to COVID-19, telemedicine assumed to be vital in the field of early diagnosis of cognitive disorders and highlighted the clinical utility of remote methods of neuropsychological assessmentby video-conference. This descriptive study presents the development of a remote neuropsychological assessment protocol by selecting appropriate validated tests as part of a more comprehensive evaluation for older adults dwelling in the community...

BACKGROUND: Implant-based breast reconstruction (IBBR) is the most commonly performed reconstructive procedure following mastectomy. IBBR techniques are evolving rapidly, with mesh-assisted subpectoral reconstruction becoming the standard of care and more recently, prepectoral techniques being introduced. These muscle-sparing techniques may reduce postoperative pain, avoid implant animation and improve cosmetic outcomes and have been widely adopted into practice. Although small observational studies have failed to demonstrate any differences in the clinical or patient-reported outcomes of prepectoral or subpectoral reconstruction, high-quality comparative evidence of clinical or cost-effectiveness is lacking...

To report a case of a 20-year-old woman who developed massive and progressive corneal remodeling in both eyes after bilateral PRK with mitomycin and CXL as an elective refractive procedure for mild keratoconus. The patient had 6 years of follow up, initially presenting with focal steepening of up to 20 diopters on both eyes one-and-a-half- years postoperatively that spontaneously reversed over the next five years while the high order aberrations worsened. At the present time, the patient depends on bilateral scleral contact lenses for her day-to-day activities...

PURPOSE: To describe the concordance of keratoconus (KC) expression in 2 pairs of monozygotic twins before and after a combined corneal crosslinking (CXL)/photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedure. SETTING: Private ambulatory eye surgery unit. DESIGN: Retrospective interventional twin study. METHODS: Two pairs of male monozygotic twins with KC were studied retrospectively. Improvement of flattest (K1) and steepest (K2) keratometry, index of height decentration (IHD), and corneal thickness at the thinnest point and corneal epithelial thickness measured by anterior segment optical coherence tomography and Scheimpflug tomography was compared between respective eyes of monozygotic twin siblings 1 to 5 years after the application of combined CXL and topography-guided PRK of part of the refractive error (the Athens Protocol)...

BACKGROUND: A new liquid levothyroxine (LT4) dissolved in glycerol and water has recently been developed by a Greek pharmaceutical company (Uni-Pharma, Athens, Greece). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the therapeutic equivalence of this new liquid LT4 preparation versus the already existing tablet formulation of the same manufacturer, in order to obtain approval by the Greek National Organization for Medicines. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, cross-over phase III study...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety, efficacy, and stability of topography-guided partial PRK combined with corneal cross-linking (CXL) (the Athens Protocol [AP]) in pediatric patients with keratoconus over a 4-year follow-up period. METHODS: This prospective study included 39 keratoconic eyes of 21 patients younger than 18 years with clinical and imaging evidence of keratoconus progression. Partial topography-guided excimer laser ablation in conjunction with high-fluence CXL was performed in all patients according to the AP...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common solid cancer affecting men worldwide. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is at present the most commonly used biomarker for PCa screening, as well as a reliable marker of disease recurrence after initial treatment. Bone metastases (BM) are present in advanced stages of the disease. Imaging of BM is important not only for localization and characterization, but also to evaluate their size and number, as well as to follow-up the disease during and after therapy. Bone metastases formation is triggered by cancer initiating cells in the bone marrow and is facilitated by the release of several growth factors...

STUDY QUESTION: Has PGD-HLA been successful relative to diagnostic and clinical efficacy? SUMMARY ANSWER: The diagnostic efficacy of PGD-HLA protocols was found lower in this study in comparison to published PGD-HLA protocols and to that reported for general PGD by ESHRE (78.5 vs 94.1% and vs 92.6%, respectively), while the clinical efficacy has proven very difficult to assess due to inadequate follow-up of both the ART/PGD and HSCT procedure outcomes. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The first clinical cases for PGD-HLA were reported in 2001...

BACKGROUND: Current management for men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is a pathway that results in prostate surgery in a significant proportion. While helpful in relieving benign prostatic obstruction (BPO), surgery may be ineffective for men suffering from difficulties not relating to BPO. The UPSTREAM trial started recruitment in October 2014 with the aim of establishing whether a care pathway including urodynamics (a diagnostic tool for BPO and thus an indication of whether surgery is needed) is no worse for men, in terms of symptomatic outcome, than one without (routine care)...

OBJECTIVES: Repair versus replacement of a defective direct restoration is one important step for conserving tooth structure. This study was designed to collect information on the attitudes of Greek dentists towards repairing direct restorations. METHODS: An electronic questionnaire with 16 multiple-choice and rank-ordering questions was created online and its URL address was randomly emailed to 800 dentists in the area of Athens, Greece. The questionnaire remained open for 3 months, and after two reminder emails the data collected were analysed statistically to identify differences between clinician's sex or years of practicing dentistry, using the chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests at α = 0...

Quality standards (QS) support and enhance health care services provided to patients and citizens, especially in sophisticated medical departments, such as Intensive Care Units (ICU). However, ICU staff lag behind in the adoption and compliance of QS protocols. In this paper, QS protocols implemented in the Intensive Care Unit of the Attiko University Hospital, a tertiary teaching hospital of the University of Athens, will be discussed. In this hospital, standardized procedures are implemented through the HIS, facilitating routine administration and services...

BACKGROUND: Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) has been the standard operation for benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) for 40 years, with approximately 25,000 procedures performed annually, and has remained largely unchanged. It is generally a successful operation, but has well-documented risks for the patient. Thulium laser transurethral vaporesection of the prostate (ThuVARP) vaporises and resects the prostate using a surgical technique similar to TURP. The small amount of study data currently available suggests that ThuVARP may have certain advantages over TURP, including reduced blood loss and shorter hospital stay, earlier return to normal activities, and shorter duration of catheterisation...

BACKGROUND: To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) changes following topical dexamethasone administration for 1 month in keratoconic versus normal eyes. METHODS: This is a retrospective, single-center, non-randomized case series evaluation of 350 eyes. Two groups were formed: normal/control Group A (nA =73), eyes that underwent excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy; and keratoconic (KCN) Group B (nB =277), eyes that were subjected to partial laser photorefractive keratectomy combined with collagen cross-linking (The Athens Protocol)...

PURPOSE: To comparatively investigate the efficacy of the enhanced Athens Protocol procedure guided by novel Placido-derived topography with cyclorotation compensation (the cyclorotation adjusted group) to similar cases guided by Scheimpflug-derived tomography without cyclorotation compensation (the non-cyclorotation adjusted group). METHODS: Two groups were evaluated: the cyclorotation adjusted group (n = 110 eyes) and the non-cyclorotation adjusted group (n = 110 eyes)...

BACKGROUND: The histological diagnosis of prostate cancer requires a prostate needle biopsy. Little is known about the relationship between information provided to prepare men for transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy (TRUS-Bx) and how men experience biopsy. The objectives were a) to understand men's experiences of biopsy as compared to their expectations; and b) to propose current evidence-based information for men undergoing TRUS-Bx. METHODS: Between February 2006 and May 2008, 1,147 men undergoing a standardised 10-core transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy protocol under antibiotic cover following a PSA 3...

PURPOSE: To investigate refractive, topometric, pachymetric, and visual rehabilitation changes induced by anterior surface normalization for keratoconus by partial topography-guided excimer laser ablation in conjunction with accelerated, high-fluence cross-linking. METHODS: Two hundred thirty-one keratoconic cases subjected to the Athens Protocol procedure were studied for visual acuity, keratometry, pachymetry, and anterior surface irregularity indices up to 3 years postoperatively by Scheimpflug imaging (Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany)...

A liquid-liquid extraction (LLE; ethyl acetate) protocol, followed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) methodology, was developed for the determination of 19 compounds, including bisphenol A diglycidyl ethers (BADGEs; industrial ethers), benzophenone-type UV filters (BP-UV filters; precursors and metabolites), p-hydroxybenzoic acid esters (parabens; preservatives), triclosan (TCS) and triclocarban (TCC) in human urine. Urine specimens were enzymatically deconjugated with β-glucuronidase (from Helix pomatia) and extracted by a LLE procedure for the measurement of total concentrations (i...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the design, methods, procedures and characteristics of the population involved in a study designed to compare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in eight European countries. METHODS: Women and men aged 18-65, living in Ghent-Belgium (n = 245), Stuttgart-Germany (n = 546), Athens-Greece (n = 548), Budapest-Hungary (n = 604), Porto-Portugal (n = 635), Granada-Spain (n = 138), Östersund-Sweden (n = 592), London-United Kingdom (n = 571), were sampled and administered a common questionnaire...