Urology

Baltimore-Race, that ever-sensitive subject in American culture, was the focus of a day-long meeting, "Ethnicity & Glaucoma: The Past, Present, and Future," at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

New York-Certain glaucoma cases present a major challenge to the clinician. Participants in a session at the Glaucoma 2002 meeting here discussed some of these unusual conditions.

New York-The official definition of glaucoma has changed over the years to downplay the role of IOP, although IOP does remain a central issue in the treatment and prevention of the condition. Such was the conclusion drawn from discussions at the Glaucoma 2002 meeting here.

San Antonio, TX-Before prescribing one of the newer medications for glaucoma, clinicians should ask what drugs the patient may be taking for aches and pains-especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs), including something as innocuous as aspirin, said William E. Sponsel, MD.

Boston-The incidence of overcorrection following PRK and LASIK is fortunately very small, generally less than 5%. Unfortunately, the incidence of consecutive hyperopia after RK is significantly greater and, over time, becomes higher with a hyperopic shift, said Helen K. Wu, MD.

A genetically engineered molecule designed to kill cancers by destroying their rapidly growing blood vessels offers a new line of attack against age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other retinal conditions, said Alan Garen, PhD.

New Orleans-A system incorporating a narrow-beam excimer laser with an active tracking system to detect minuscule eye motions is effective in the LASIK correction of myopia and astigmatism, according to Marguerite B. McDonald, MD, clinical professor of ophthalmology at Tulane University School of Medicine here.

Bethesda, MD-A newly discovered network of non-rod, non-cone cells in the retina may be the mechanism that controls the body's circadian clock, said Ignacio Provencio, PhD.

San Francisco-Levofloxacin (Quixin, Santen)-the new kid in the fluoroquinolone family-is less likely to encounter resistant strains of bacteria than the two older members of that antibiotic family, ofloxacin (Ocuflox, Allergan) and ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan, Alcon), according to David Hwang, MD.

Seattle-The dry eye that some patients experience after LASIK is a direct, not an indirect, result of damage to the corneal nerves, said Steven E. Wilson, MD.

Farmington, CT-A newly discovered gene provides at least a partial solution to the puzzle of normal-tension glaucoma, according to Mansoor Sarfarazi, PhD.

A test for the optineurin gene will be available to ophthalmologists soon - possibly this year and certainly by 2003, said S. Kumar Chandrasekaran, PhD, CEO of InSite Vision, Alameda, CA.

Philadelphia-A case-control study-in which each patient served as his or her own control-found that a single-piece lens may be less likely to cause vision-troubling capsular striae than a multipiece lens, said Richard Tipperman, MD.

Galveston, TX-Three-times-a-day treatment with famciclovir (Famvir, Novartis) was as effective against ophthalmic herpes zoster as five-times-a-day acyclovir (Zovirax, Glaxo Wellcome) in a major international trial, said Stephen K. Tyring, MD, PhD.

Atlanta-The longest follow-up to date of a large number of LASIKpatients has given convincing evidence that the procedure does not damagethe corneal endothelium, said Henry F. Edelhauser, PhD.

Houston-An artificial retina could be the answer for an estimated 1 million Americans with retinal blindness by conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, said Alex Ignatiev, PhD, professor of physics, chemistry, and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston.

Los Angeles-The Amadeus Microkeratome (Allergan Surgical) offers advantages in both speed and safety in performing LASIK, said Lee Nordan, MD.

Allowing patients to listen to the music of their choiceduring cataract or glaucoma surgery can help reduce the cardiovascular effectscaused by both pre- and peri-operative feelings of stress, according toKaren Allen, PhD.

Augusta, GA-Despite negative results in an early trial, effortsare continuing to determine whether external-beam irradiation can slow visionloss caused by subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in age-relatedmacular degeneration (AMD), said Dennis M. Marcus, MD.