LB
Laura Barna
  • Class of 2019
  • Mountain Top, PA

Laura Barna of Mountain Top to publish case presentation in ophthalmology journal

2017 May 31

Laura Barna of Mountain Top, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD Class of 2019, will publish a case presentation in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in the "Images in Pediatric Ophthalmology" section. She hopes to pursue ophthalmology as her medical specialty.

The case presentation, also authored by Renelle Pointdujour-Lim, MD and Carol L. Shields, MD, is entitled, "String of Pearls: Macroaneurysms in Coats Disease." It highlights the unique feature of string of pearls macroaneurysms (small, balloon-like dilatations of blood vessels) often seen in the ophthalmic condition, Coats disease. Coats disease is a rare congenital, nonhereditary eye disorder, causing full or partial blindness, characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels behind the retina. The case presentation concerned care of a four-year-old child whose "fluorescein angiography showed five light-bulb macroaneurysms of the inferotemporal vein in a 'string of pearls appearance.'" The patient was successfully treated with laser photocoagulation and cryotherapy.