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Arch Ophthalmol. 2000;118:1446-1449.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Immune corneal ulcers are rare ocular surface diseases with multiple etiologies.¹ Immunosuppressive drugs and systemic or topical steroids may occasionally control the inflammatory process, but in the more severe cases, the ulcer may progress to corneal melting and perforation. No suitable therapy is currently available for these patients.¹ In a recent uncontrolled study, topically applied exogenous nerve growth factor (NGF) restored corneal integrity in patients with corneal neurotrophic ulcers.² Nerve growth factor might promote corneal healing and is implicated in functional activity of inflammatory cells on the ocular surface.^3-5

We evaluated the efficacy of topical murine NGF⁶ treatment in 4 patients (Table 1) with severe corneal melting as a consequence of immune-related corneal peripheral ulcers. The patients received 1 drop of NGF solution (10 µg of NGF dissolved in 50 µL of saline solution, 0.9% of sodium chloride) in the conjunctival fornix every 2 hours (from 6 AM . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Report of Cases

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Comment
Corresponding author: Luigi Aloe, PhD, Institute of Neurobiology, National Research Council, Viale Marx 15/43, 00137 Rome, Italy (e-mail: aloe@in.rm.cnr.it).

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