Cataract & Refractive

Several new refractive surgical platforms have been introduced recently and many ophthalmologists are discovering they find the new technologies to be more efficient and produce better results.

Cataract patients who have astigmatism of greater than 2.5 D are likely to benefit more from the implantation of a high-cylinder toric intraocular lens (IOL) than from the implantation of a low-cylinder toric IOL combined with limbal relaxing incision (LRI), according to research conducted at the Ouchi Eye Clinic and Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

As the population is living for longer after cataract surgery, Dr Kugelberg and colleagues believed that a longer follow-up period was required to determine PCO rates in three different IOLs. Here, she discusses the highlights of this study.

The arrival of advanced therapeutic modalities for keratoconus has provided ophthalmologists with a growing menu of treatment options. The author discusses the challenge of determining which treatment is the best to use and highlights his experience with a triple procedure and a four-stage approach.

Dr Trattler focuses on the incidence of topographic abnormalities in patients before surgery, emphasizing the importance of pre-op topography to better understand the patient's corneal shape and enable better prediction of post-op outcomes.

According to Prof. Shah, the second generation Lentis multifocal lens is a significant improvement over its predecessor. In this article, we highlight his study assessing visual outcomes after implantation with this new lens.

Consideration of all the available options should be made to correct refractive surprises, emphasized Dr Noel Alpins (NewVision Clinics, Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia) when speaking during the 'Assessment of Astigmatism' session at the 2013 ESCRS Congress.

Various models of mutlifocal IOLs are currently available that enable patients to see at two focal points (distant and near). These lenses have demonstrated good safety, efficacy and predictability in correcting ametropia and presbyopia after phaco surgery although some visual side effects have been observed.

Dr Morris recently discussed his study, evaluating the Lentis MF-15 toric lens as an effective treatment for astigmatism despite having a low add power. Here, we present the key outcomes of his talk.

The authors discuss their study evaluating and comparing the post-op PCO levels, anterior capsule retraction and ACO of two single-piece hydrophobic acrylic lenses.

Corneal astigmatism may be reduced or nearly eliminated after intrastromal femtosecond laser astigmatic keratotomy, explains one ophthalmologist.

Implantation of an intracorneal inlay (Kamra, AcuFocus) modified the normal structure of the corneal layer of the eye but did not cause severe complications in a recent small study.

Both toric IOLs and peripheral corneal relaxing incisions (PCRIs) reduce astigmatism, but toric IOLs do so to a greater extent as well as being more predictable, according to results of a recently published study.

For the calculation of corneal power, using a single value for a keratometric index (nk) is imprecise and may lead to significant clinical errors, warn researchers of a recent study.

One solution for presbyopes is small diameter corneal inlays and in this article Dr Ratkay-Traub discusses her study into the long-term outcomes of presbyopia treatment with a hydrogel near vision inlay.

Predicting the position of an iris-fixated pIOL is important to ensure intraocular structure health is maintained. In this article, Dr Soltani Moghadam describes his recent study that found AS-OCT imaging technique to be particularly useful as a preoperative simulation technique.

In this article, Dr Solborg Bjerrum discusses his recent study assessing whether there is an increased risk of post-op endophthalmitis in private clinics versus public hospitals.

Corneal anterior segment imaging has emerged as a screening tool for refractive surgery, cataract and glaucoma. In this article, the authors discuss their recent study that identified a set of normative data to correct for sources of bias in pre-surgery screening.

In this article Dr Kanellopoulos shares his opinions on AS-OCT in his practice, highlighting the clinical and diagnostic advantages he has experienced using the imaging device.

In this article, Dr Cervino discusses how his recent study examining the quality of anterior segment images obtained with posterior segment OCT devices is good enough to obtain repeatable measures of anterior segment parameters manually using external analysis software.

The CorVis ST, a new Scheimpflug-based device, has the potential to analyze ocular biomechanical properties for further research. Here, Dr Nemeth discusses his recent study analyzing the repeatability of data obtained with this new device.

Universal use of intracameral antibiotics can nearly eliminate postoperative endophthalmitis, according to one ophthalmologist.

The microbiological spectrum in patients with post-traumatic endophthalmitis has remained unchanged over the past 14 years, with Bacillus spp. still the most commonly found infecting organism, and vancomycin remaining the drug of choice for empiric coverage of gram-positive bacteria.

The Optimis Fusion integrated laser platform from Quantel Medical has received CE Mark approval. The system is a combination of advanced selective laser trabeculoplasty photoregeneration therapy with traditional YAG photodisruption treatment for treating both cataract and glaucoma.

Corneal refractive surgery may be more successful in eyes in which the cylinder mainly originates from the anterior cornea; therefore, in candidates for refractive surgery, surgeons should carefully assess the interaction between topographic, refractive and ocular residual astigmatism (ORA) to identify those at high risk for having significant differences between subjective cylinder and topographic astigmatism.