News

The Anecortave Acetate Risk Reduction Trial (AART) recently completed enrollment of 2,596 patients worldwide. The study is being conducted in the United States, Europe, Australia, and South America. Sites have also been added in India and Singapore under a different protocol number. AART is investigating the ability of anecortave acetate 15 mg or 30 mg to prevent sight-threatening choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in high-risk eyes when compared with a sham procedure.

Palo Alto, CA-Darius Moshfeghi, MD, pediatric retina specialist at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, CA, and one of just a few physicians in California's Bay Area trained to diagnose retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), is using technology to bring his expertise to premature babies without having to travel to see them.

San Francisco-Both the SA60AT (AcrySof, Alcon Laboratories) and the SN60WF (AcrySof IQ, Alcon) IOLs are associated with excellent visual acuity outcomes after cataract surgery. However, with its aspheric optic, the SN60WF significantly reduces higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and results in greater improvement in contrast sensitivity as well as patient satisfaction with visual function, said Helga P. Sandoval, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Throughout my years of dispensing optical products as an optician/dispenser, I have developed techniques that enable me to build patients? confidence while saving time and money. These helpful hints have proven invaluable to me when I troubleshoot an optical challenge.

San Francisco-In the ongoing debate over the superiority of refractive procedures, phakic lenses are receiving increasing attention because they preserve and improve the quality of vision, according to Jos? L. Guell, MD, PhD.

San Francisco-"The choice of corneal procedure that the surgeon will perform to correct astigmatism after corneal transplantation depends on the corneal shape," said Sheraz Daya, MD, FACS, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Early treatment at high-risk threshold reduces the rate of unfavorable acuity and structural outcomes in infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), according to William V. Good, MD. Reporting new findings from the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity Study (ETROP), Dr. Good added that systemic side effects are more common with earlier treatment but can be managed in the nursery.

Baltimore-The political realities of implementing mandatory vision-screening programs offer hard lessons for the dedicated individuals involved in the process. Small victories have been scored, but enormous efforts still need to be made to meet the goal of vision screening for all pre-kindergarten children with follow-up care for those identified as needing it, according to Mary Louise Collins, MD.

Nashville, TN-There are no simple answers to the most fundamental questions about children's eye screening, such as who should be screened, at what age, what should be screened for, and how.

Chest and joint radiographs, CT, MRI, and other extraocular imaging modalities must be tailored to each patient and not ordered routinely.

The Laurence-Moon/Biedl-Bardet syndrome is an autosomal-recessive disorder with various findings.

Wilmington, DE-Alcon Laboratories paid Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (AMO) $121 million as part of a global settlement agreement that resolves four patent lawsuits between the companies. The companies also agreed to work together in the future to resolve patent issues relating to new technology before heading to court.

Several options are available to cataract surgeons to manage anticipated IFIS. In the multicenter prospective trial, surgeons could use a mechanical restraining device (iris expansion ring or iris retractors) to enlarge the pupil and keep the iris from prolapsing, viscodilation with Healon 5 (Advanced Medical Optics), or pharmacologic intervention with atropine administered three times daily beginning 2 days before surgery.

Miami-Hypotony maculopathy is a fixable problem if it is repaired within 6 months, according to Paul F. Palmberg, MD, PhD.

Fort Lauderdale, FL-The Blue Mountains Eye Study has yielded 10-year data on the incidence and progression of glaucoma in an elderly population as well as valuable information on systemic and ocular predictors.

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), and the American Urological Association (AUA) have joined forces to launch a patient and prescriber education campaign about the risk of intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS) associated with the current or previous use of an alpha-1 blocker and the likelihood of successful surgery if the ophthalmologist is aware of that medication history and is able to employ appropriate surgical strategies.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), which said it was "pleased with the timely JAMA article," is reminding physicians to emphasize the importance of good hygiene practices to their patients who wear contact lenses.

Codes for vitrectomy and other common retina procedures are under review because they no longer describe today's procedures.

While the Goldmann applanation tonometer is a very accurate instrument for measuring IOP compared with previous instruments, ophthalmologists now know that central corneal thickness (CCT) is much more variable than was believed when the instrument was developed.

A new study confirms preliminary findings that a unique outbreak of Fusarium keratitis this past spring was associated with use of ReNu with MoistureLoc (Bausch & Lomb) contact lens cleaning solution and common suboptimal hygiene practices (JAMA 2006;296:953-963).

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS), hailed to be the next big development in cataract surgery, has not had the expected impact on surgeon's practice, David Leaming revealed, whilst detailing the results of his most recent survey on cataract surgery practice in Europe and the US.

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS), hailed to be the next big development in cataract surgery, has not had the expected impact on surgeon's practice, David Leaming revealed, whilst detailing the results of his most recent survey on cataract surgery practice in Europe and the US.

The use of foldable intraocular lenses (IOLs) in cataract surgery is a trend that is continuing to rise across Europe, according to Mats Lundstrom speaking at the Outcomes of Cataract and Refractive Surgery symposium.

Howard Fine, MD, speaking at the ISRS/AAO symposium, believes that the answer to correcting presbyopia lies in accommodating lenses rather than multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs).

According to Oliver Findl, it is becoming increasingly important to use a wider variety of parameters to assess visual quality after cataract surgery in order to gain a better understanding of patient's day-to-day experiences.

Although image quality has a clear influence on visual acuity, it does not account for all the individual variability of other factors that must be involved including, measurement errors, or wavefront, optical or neural factors, Raymond Applegate said.

A large survey has recently been piloted in the UK to demonstrate the use and benefits of electronic data collection with respect to rapidly monitoring the access, delivery and outcome of cataract surgery in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and to update benchmark standards for these parameters of care.

The carpenter's rule is measure twice, cut once. The wavefront aberrometry rule should be measure hundreds of times, then analysed, and then cut once, Dr Robert Iskander said.