PURPOSE: To report the results of vision screening in the elderly and operations for the blind in 2003. METHODS: A nation-wide, indigent aged group of over 65-year-old of low-income population was surveyed. Visual acuity was tested, refractive error was measured, and ocular examination was performed to determine the group needed for operation. RESULTS: Among the indigent subjects who live in urban or rural community, 7, 750 subjects aged over 65 years old were examined by the ophthalmologists. For those screened, the most common ocular disease was cataract (4, 383 subjects, 45.4%), followed by conjunctival and scleral disease (1, 741 eyes, 18%), retinal disease (434 eyes, 4.5%), refractive errors (374 eyes, 3.9%). Surgery was performed on 1, 813 eyes of 1, 109 subjects, and these were classified by the disease category. Surgery for cataract was performed on 1, 762 eyes (97.2%), and for retinal disease on 51 eyes (2.8%). The visual acuity change after cataract surgery was 0.23 +/- 0.15 preoperatively and 0.64 +/- 0.25 postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Among the geriatric public health problem in eye care services, the most prevalent cause of visual impairment was senile cataract, for which the vision can be improved by surgery. Therefore, continuous vision screening and surgery for the blind among this group are important and should be performed more extensively.
Aged* ; Cataract ; Humans ; Poverty ; Public Health ; Refractive Errors ; Retinal Diseases ; Rural Population ; Scleral Diseases ; Vision Disorders ; Vision Screening* ; Visual Acuity

Clinical experiences of pulmonary artery aneurysm are distinctly rare and current knowledge is mainly derived from autopsy findings. Pulmonary artery aneurysms are associated with congenital heart disease, most frequently patient ductus arteriosus, followed in decreasing order by ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect. In the remaining cases, such aneurysms are associated mainly with secondary acquired lesions, such as Behcet's disease, bacterial endocarditis, syphilis, tuberculosis, atherosclerosis, vasculitis, hypertension, trauma. Angiography was the gold standard for diagnosing pulmonary artery aneurysms, but MRI imaging has been potentially useful diagnostic modality in demonstrating aneurysm and other fine pathologic processes with high resolution. Surgery was main, but there are no firm guidelines for optimal treatment of pulmonary artery aneurysm. We experienced a case of pulmonary artery aneurysm with pulmonary hypertension in a 58 year-old female and observed for 2 years. The aneurysmal size was 5.19 cm initially and inreased to 5.5cm for two years, accompanying by pulmonary hypertension. We report this case of pulmonary artery aneurysm with a brief review of literature.
Aneurysm* ; Angiography ; Atherosclerosis ; Autopsy ; Ductus Arteriosus ; Endocarditis, Bacterial ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Pulmonary* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Pathologic Processes ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Syphilis ; Tuberculosis ; Vasculitis