News

Recently it was that time of the year for my medical school's graduation ceremony. Three hours and forty-five minutes of speeches and handing out diplomas, wearing warm academic regalia in an auditorium that could have used more air conditioning-I think you all have been there and know the drill. Deans, vice deans, assistant deans, and department chairmen are accorded the honor of sitting up on the stage, so we get a close-up view of the proceedings.

Bethesda, MD-Of the 14 million Americans that are visually impaired, more than 11 million have uncorrected visual impairment, such as nearsightedness, according to a study designed and supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (JAMA 2006;295:2158-2163).

Irvine, CA-The philanthropic arm of Allergan Inc., The Allergan Foundation, donated $2 million to the University of California-Irvine's (UC-Irvine) department of ophthalmology. The donation will further strengthen the department's research agenda and clinical care. The gift was "the largest donation ever to ophthalmology," according to a joint press release from the university and Allergan.

Des Plaines, IL-The Internal Revenue Service has authorized the Foundation for Keratoconus Care to commence operations.

The company appar-ently did not anticipate fully how patients might misuse the product and fail to comply with recommendations.

Labeling accuracy applies to lenses with powers less than 20 D, but clinical impact is unknown, researcher says.

For weeks, he was known publicly only as the "New Jersey ophthalmologist" who was anonymously credited with alerting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about an apparent rise in the number of Fusarium keratitis cases he had seen.

South San Francisco, CA - Genentech Inc. announced on Friday, June 30, 2006 that the FDA has approved its ranibizumab 0.5 mg injection (Lucentis, Genentech Inc.) for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The FDA approved Lucentis after a 6-month priority review, the company said. Genentech will begin shipping product immediately. Ninety-five percent of patients treated with Lucentis maintained their vision in phase III clinical trials, according to the company. Vision improved by at least three lines (or 15 letters) on the study eye chart in up to 40% of these patients at 1 year. Lucentis was developed for intraocular use to treat the underlying cause of wet AMD by targeting the molecular pathway that controls angiogenesis. Lucentis is designed to bind and inhibit VEGF-A, a protein that is believed to play a critical role in angiogenesis.

South San Francisco, CA - Genentech Inc. announced on Friday, June 30, 2006 that the FDA has approved its ranibizumab 0.5 mg injection (Lucentis, Genentech Inc.) for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The FDA approved Lucentis after a 6-month priority review, the company said. Genentech will begin shipping product immediately. Ninety-five percent of patients treated with Lucentis maintained their vision in phase III clinical trials, according to the company. Vision improved by at least three lines (or 15 letters) on the study eye chart in up to 40% of these patients at 1 year. Lucentis was developed for intraocular use to treat the underlying cause of wet AMD by targeting the molecular pathway that controls angiogenesis. Lucentis is designed to bind and inhibit VEGF-A, a protein that is believed to play a critical role in angiogenesis.

La Jolla, CA-When diagnosing a cranial third-nerve palsy, there are a number of factors to consider that let the ophthalmologist decide whether a patient's third-nerve palsy is microvascular, or whether the cause is a more serious one. Leah Levi, MBBS, described the checklist that she uses to arrive at the diagnosis of microvascular third-nerve palsy.

S?o Paulo, Brazil-Establishing the correct diagnosis and modifying therapy appropriately based on response are fundamental elements in the successful management of bacterial keratitis, said Richard L. Abbott, MD, at the World Congress of Ophthalmology.

After extensive ophthalmological training in Vienna and Innsbruck, Carl Lisch (1907-1999), an Austrian ophthalmologist, became the chief of ophthalmology in W?rgl, a small town in the North Tyrolean region of Austria. He practiced in W?rgl from 1947 to 1980. During his lifetime he wrote approximately 120 papers focusing primarily on the phakomatoses and in particular neurofibromatosis.

San Francisco-Attention to safety, speed, staffing, standardization, simplicity, and suppleness is the key to efficiency and effectiveness in the operating room (OR), explained Bradford J. Shingleton, MD, at glaucoma subspecialty day during the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

Ann Arbor, MI-Scientists at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have developed a faster and more cost-effective method of genetic testing for autosomal recessive forms of retinitis pigmentosa (arRP). Using this microarray-based sequencing technology, researchers can look for disease-causing mutations on 11 genes at a time, according to Radha Ayyagari, PhD.

S?o Paulo, Brazil-While aqueous shunts have traditionally been reserved for use in refractory glaucomas having poor surgical prognoses, glaucoma surgery appears to be undergoing a paradigm shift in which shunts are taking on a larger role, said Steven J. Gedde, MD, at the World Ophthalmology Congress.

Khon Kaen, Thailand-A study of a new approach to preparation and storage of posterior lamellar corneal grafts for transplantation has demonstrated that centralized harvest, cold storage, and shipment by airmail result in viable grafts 2 days later, according to Olan Suwan-apichon, MD, assistant professor, department of ophthalmology, faculty of medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.

San Francisco-DisCoVisc (Alcon Laboratories) performs better than Healon 5 (Advanced Medical Optics) during cataract surgery in patients who have been taking tamsulosin HCl (Flomax, Boehringer Ingelheim), which is a culprit in the intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS), according to Satish Modi, MD, FRCS (C).

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) has established a center at the University of Utah to evaluate unexplained cases of postoperative inflammation or endophthalmitis. This center is under the direction of Nick Mamalis, MD, who has developed protocols to be used in the evaluation of patients with TASS.

San Francisco-Identifying the cause of toxic anterior shock syndrome (TASS) was investigated in two trials, one performed by Simon P. Holland, MD, and colleagues and a second done by Liliana Werner, MD, PhD, and associates.

San Francisco-Three aspheric IOLs-Tecnis Z9000 (Advanced Medical Optics [AMO]), AcrySof SN60WF (LI61AO, Alcon Laboratories), and SofPort AO (Bausch & Lomb)-were compared in two separate trials by two different groups of investigators.

San Francisco-The hyperpulse mode of the Millennium Microsurgical System (Bausch & Lomb) more efficiently breaks up hard nuclei with a shorter average absolute phacoemulsification time than the pulse mode, with less postoperative corneal edema, Chee-Chew Yip, MMed, FRCS, reported at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Torsional phacoemulsification performed with the new OZil handpiece (Alcon Laboratories) and associated software results in more efficient surgery than conventional longitudinal phaco, said David Allen, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-Questioning patients before cataract surgery about whether they are taking alpha-1 blockers, such as tamsulosin (Flomax, Boehringer Ingelheim), has become increasingly important in light of the observation by David F. Chang, MD, and John R. Campbell, MD, that the drug, which is used to treat the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, can cause intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS).

San Francisco-The new software and hardware upgrades to the Sovereign phacoemulsification system (Advanced Medical Optics [AMO]) make cataract surgery safer and more efficient, based on the results of three studies of the WhiteStar ICE (Increased Control and Efficiency) technology (AMO) reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Heat generation was assessed with a temperature-sensitive film that changes color from brown to yellow when the temperature rises above 53? C.

San Francisco-A Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) (Calhoun Vision) has been precisely adjusted after implantation to correct spherical and astigmatic refractive error. Thus far, the follow-up in human eyes is out to 24 months postoperatively, and the LAL appears to be biocompatible in these eyes, said Arturo Chayet, MD. He reported the update on the clinical results for spherical correction at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-Early results from the FDA clinical trial of the Akreos Adapt IOL (Bausch & Lomb) show that the hydrophilic acrylic implant is meeting or exceeding FDA grid requirements for pseudophakic IOL performance, reported investigators at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-Studies with the accommodating IOL (crystalens, eyeonics) are providing new insights regarding its mechanism of action that help to explain why some patients have achieved near vision that is much better than expected.