News

A patient complained of severe glare and light sensitivity associated with a persistent traumatic mydriasis of the right eye. After conservative treatment with topical miotics and a painted contact lens failed to decrease the mydriasis, a cerclage pupilloplasty was performed on the right eye resulting in a 4-mm round pupil. The patient experienced significant reduction of glare and photophobia.

Jackson, TN—The Toyos AquaChop procedure, which is a new technique for cataract extraction, takes advantage of the special properties of the AquaLase liquefaction device (Alcon, Fort Worth, TX).

Memphis, TN—TBI/Tissue Banks International has built the first National Eye Bank Center here to centralize the screening, evaluation, and shipping of eye tissue for corneal transplant surgery and ocular research.

Washington, DC—Daniel D. Garrett, senior vice president of Prevent Blindness America (PBA), helped to shape national policies for older Americans as an at-large delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.

Aliso Viejo, CA—eyeonics Inc. is reducing the number of implants it requires ophthalmic surgeons to perform before providing credentials for crystalens IOL implantation.

Costa Mesa, CA—In an effort to retain patients who need to finance their refractive surgery, CareCredit, a division of GE Consumer Finance, is offering 95% approval rates through its CareCreditPlus program.

Fairfax, VA—The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) has formed a Retina Clinical Committee to provide members with a resource on the latest advances in retinal treatment.

Basel, Switzerland—Novartis will work with Senju Pharmaceutical Co. to develop and commercialize a topical treatment for glaucoma.

Irvine, CA—The Federal Aviation Administration is allowing pilots to have the conductive keratoplasty (NearVision CK, Refractec Inc.) treatment to reduce their dependence on glasses.

Marblehead, MA—A Western Australia-based drug developer will acquire Advanced Ocular Systems (AOS) in a $31 million all-stock deal.

Dallas—Cataract and refractive surgeon Jeffrey Whitman, MD, will serve as president-elect of the American College of Eye Surgeons (ACES) for a 2-year term.

Irvine, CA—Allergan Inc. has offered to acquire Inamed Corp. for $1.45 billion cash and 17.9 million shares of Allergan stock to create a global leader in medical aesthetics.

Melville, NY—OSI Pharmaceuticals has completed its $935 million acquisition of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. after reviewing recent data by Eyetech competitor Genentech Inc.

The Scoring Tool for Assessing Risk (STAR) is intended for use in patients with untreated ocular hypertension. It is a cardboard, slide rule-type device featuring two sliding bars (A and B) and three windows.

The promise of 2004, that new anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) be developed, came to fruition in 2005, much to the excitement of ophthalmologists. These emerging treatments for AMD took center stage this year and resulted in numerous ideas about the effect of the pharmaceutical advancements and their impact on other retinal diseases.

A newly developed glaucoma risk calculator will enhance the management of untreated ocular hypertension, said Robert N. Weinreb, MD, director, Hamilton Glaucoma Center, and distinguished professor of ophthalmology, University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

Montr?al—The benefits observed in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after 1 year of treatment with pegaptanib sodium (Macugen, OSI/Eyetech Pharmaceuticals) continued into the second year of treatment with pegaptanib sodium and surpassed those outcomes achieved with 1 year of treatment followed by usual care and 2 years of usual care, according to Donald J. D'Amico, MD.

Toulouse, France—With lengthening follow-up, the posterior chamber implantable collamer lens (ICL) (STAAR Surgical) continues to be associated with encouraging results in the management of refractive amblyopia in children who have not had a response to conventional therapy with contact lenses or spectacles, said Laurence C. Lesueur, MD.

Phoenix—Children with traumatic cataract often achieve a good visual outcome after cataract removal and primary IOL implantation, said Richard L. Golub, MD.

Refractive IOLs, fine-tuning of excimer laser surgery, and shifts in the choices of refractive surgeries, among other developments, have all been highlighted as the primary advances in 2005.

Advances in techniques and technology for cataract surgery and IOL implantation have continued through the past year. Those innovations combined with changes in reimbursement have improved the practice setting, contributed to an overall air of increased optimism among ophthalmologists, and have made the contemporary era of cataract surgery more of a golden age than ever before, said I. Howard Fine, MD, reflecting on the state of cataract surgery as the year 2005 nears its end.

Beginning in 2006, ophthalmologists board-certified after July 1, 1992 will transition to new Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements set by the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO), which stresses lifelong learning and ongoing improvement.

Houston—Filtering bleb encapsulation after trabeculectomy seems to respond well to tapering topical corticosteroids alone or in conjunction with IOP-lowering agents. Withdrawing steroids appeared beneficial for lowering the IOP compared with continuing the use of steroids to prevent inflammation, according to Sheila Bazzaz, MD.

Recently, a ranking of U.S. business schools was published by Forbes magazine. The top school, according to this ranking, was the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. The criterion used to determine the "best" school was a remarkable one: starting salary of recent graduates. This struck me as an interesting measure of the quality of an education.

Lisbon, Portugal—A deep lamellar keratoplasty (DLKP) procedure that exposes Descemet's membrane seems safe and effective to correct keratoconus, according to Mohamed Alaa El-Danasoury, MD, who reported his group's 1-year experience with the procedure.

New York—The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary (NYEEI) celebrated its 185th anniversary with the "Thanks for Giving" Ball and three award presentations.

Lake Forest, CA—IntraLens Vision Inc. has changed its name to ReVision Optics Inc. (RVO) to align with its strategy to enter the presbyopia market.

Chicago—Results of the 2005 International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS)/American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) survey highlight some interesting trends in refractive surgery across the United States, said Richard J. Duffey, MD, at the refractive subspecialty meeting sponsored by the ISRS/AAO.