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At this year's ARVO meeting, glaucoma specialists can broaden their clinicalknowledge of topics ranging from surgery and wound healing to neuroprotectionto retinal nerve fiber layer imaging. Members of Ophthalmology Times'Editorial Advisory Board reviewed dozens of glaucoma abstracts to be presentedat the meeting. Some of the board's selections are highlighted here.

Among the 233 sessions dedicated to retina, almost 75 are free papersand symposia sessions. The Editorial Advisory Board of OphthalmologyTimes reviewed the retina abstracts to be presented at this year's meeting.Some of the board's selections are highlighted here.

Dorado, Puerto Rico-Physicians need to take a proactive approach to patient chart documentation as audit activity continues under the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, said practice management expert Donna M. McCune, CCS-P, COE.

Baltimore-The use of systemic medications in uveitis therapy often is associated with superior outcomes, and the best results are likely when physicians adhere to proper dosing techniques and closely monitor patients for side effects, said Douglas A. Jabs, MD, MBA.

New York-Contrast sensitivity testing provides a more comprehensive assessment of vision than visual acuity testing. This testing is especially important when assessing, treating, and following patients who have undergone LASIK or those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, or cataracts.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) is busy planning an exciting national publicity campaign to promote eye injury awareness and prevention to the public. But it still needs one thing-you!

San Diego, the host city of this year's American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting, May 1 to 5, offers attendees an ideal climate for enjoying the great outdoors. Take some time to explore the surroundings with a run on the beach, a bike ride on a scenic trail, or for the more adventurous spirit, rock climbing in the backcountry.

Clinicians and information technology experts have made steady progress toward developing fully electronic health information systems, particularly in ophthalmology. However, as third-generation electronic health record (EHR) systems emerge on the market in 2004, a standard clinical terminology or reference set of clinical terms will be needed to support clinical documentation, decision support, and workflow.

"Self-sacrifice usually contains an unspoken demand for payment."

St. Louis, MO-Dry eyes should be treated aggressively before obtaining wavefront measurements that will be the basis for planning refractive corneal laser treatments and re-treatments, said Jay S. Pepose, MD, PhD, Pepose Vision Institute, St. Louis, MO.

Anaheim, CA-"Careful preoperative evaluation of patients and appropriate perioperative and postoperative management are needed to modulate the healing response effectively and maximize the success rate of combined cataract and glaucoma surgery," said James C. Tsai, MD, at the American Acad- emy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Las Vegas-The investigational drug pegaptanib sodium (Macugen, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals) has been shown to stabilize and improve vision and showed effectiveness against all three subtypes of lesions involved in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to Lawrence J. Singerman, MD.

The Middle East may not be at the top of the list as a popular tourist destination at present. But for Grant Heinz, MD, there are few places in the world the Mesa, AZ, oculoplastic surgeon would rather visit.

Anaheim, CA-Infection after LASIK is uncommon, but when it happens, the consequences can be devastating, said Eduardo C. Alfonso, MD, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/American Academy of Ophthalmology subspecialty day meeting.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates-Carl Zeiss Medi-tec AG is building a reference center featuring its MEL 80 excimer laser in a new hospital here.

Washington, DC-The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) once again plans to expand its coverage for ocular photodynamic therapy (OPT) with verteporfin (Visudyne, Novartis Ophthalmics).

Mountain View, CA-Add Mississippi to the list of states whose Medicare administrators will pay for transpupillary thermother-apy (TTT) treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Gaithersburg, MD-Conductive keratoplasty (CK) could replace excimer laser surgery as the treatment of choice for presbyopia if the FDA follows the recommendation of its advisory panel.

Mountain View, CA-The Medicare Part B Carrier for Pennsylvania has announced it will allow reimbursement to ophthalmologists performing transpupillary thermotherapy treatment (TTT) of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and certain intraocular tumors.

Dispensing ophthalmologists face many challenges in opening and maintaining profitable optical dispensaries. Considering the volume of cataract surgery many ophthalmology practices are performing for their aging patient base, setting up the dispensary for delivery of post-cataract eyewear can be a major challenge. It's not so much in the fitting and dispensing of the eyeglasses, but in completing the proper paperwork both within the dispensary and filing with Medicare for reimbursement of claims.

Adding an optical dispensary to an existing ophthalmology practice can be a profitable and exciting venture, but one that must be organized carefully and executed deliberately. Ophthalmologists must plan-from the dispensary's inception to construction-exactly where everything will be and how it will appear to their patients.

Anaheim, CA-LASIK with the MEL-80 excimer laser (Carl Zeiss Meditec) yields "remarkable" outcomes in the treatment of eyes with myopia and com-pound myopic astigmatism, said Frank J. Goes, MD, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/Amer-ican Academy of Ophthalmology subspecialty day meeting.

Anaheim, CA-Corneal wavefront-guided LASIK appears to be an excellent option for correcting moderate degrees of irregular astigmatism due to previous refractive surgery, according to early results reported by Jorge L. Alio, MD, PhD, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/American Academy of Ophthalmology subspecialty day meeting.

Anaheim, CA-The initial results obtained using the Allegretto Wave excimer laser system (Wavelight) and the M2 microkeratome (Moria) to treat hyperopia and hyperopic astigmatism indicate that the technology is safe and effective, vision remains stable 1 year after treatment, and there is minimal regression.

The Nidek EC-5000 excimer laser system with the OPD Scan most importantly provides excellent visual out- comes for patients with myopia or myopic astigmatism. An added bonus is that it pro-vides surgeons an excellent return on their investment compared with other commercial- ly available laser sys- tems that are equipped with wavefront-guided technology, according to refractive surgeons who use the system.

Anaheim, CA-The 213-nm solid-state CustomVis laser (CustomVis, Balcatta, Australia) represents a new generation of tech- nology for refractive surgery, with a number of potential advantages, said Donald A. Sanders, MD, PhD, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/American Academy of Ophthalmology subspecialty day meeting.

Anaheim, CA-Cyclotorsional registration is essential for optimizing the benefits of wavefront-driven refractive surgery, and it is best achieved using automatic iris recognition technology made by VISX, said Marguerite B. McDonald, MD, FACS, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/Amer-ican Academy of Ophthalmology subspe- cialty day meeting.

Anaheim, CA-Conductive keratoplasty (CK), a thermokeratoplasty technique used to reshape the cornea, appears to be a safe and effective approach for treating low to moderate hyperopia with little or no induced astigmatism, according to Marguerite B. McDonald, MD, medical monitor of the FDA multicenter trial.