The International Society of Bilateral Cataract Surgery holds inaugural meeting during ESCRS

Key Points

Berlin-The inaugural meeting of the International Society of Bilateral Cataract Surgeons (ISBCS) was held Sept. 1, during the recent annual meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS). Cataract surgeons from three continents attended the convocation.

"The ISBCS has a dual focus, namely, to foster interest in simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and to disseminate peer-reviewed literature on the subject so that ophthalmologists worldwide can be aware of the existence of a reputable body of opinion on the subject," said Charles Claoué, MA, MD, DO, FRCS, FRCOphth, FEBO, MAE.

"The ISBCS also wishes to encourage discussion of simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery and to organize educational meetings for surgeons. The opinion was expressed that ophthalmologists need to revisit this subject and to hear all the arguments in favor of simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery," he said.

Dr. Arshinoff expressed his gratitude to the founding sponsors of the ISBCS, Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd., and Advanced Medical Optics for their support and noted that Alcon Laboratories and Carl Zeiss Meditec also had expressed an interest in becoming founding sponsors. During the first meeting, the treasurer confirmed that he would write letters of appreciation to the sponsors and would launch a yearly sponsorship scheme in the new year. It was hoped that future developments would become clear before the next meeting that will occur during the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in San Francisco, where the society hopes to run a course on simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery.

The meeting concluded with Dr. Claoué stating: "We are at the start of history being made; we are going to change the way cataract surgery is practiced."