Phaco platform proving positive in physician’s practice
Features of a new phacoemulsification platform provide surgeons with improvements to outcomes, safety, and cost and time effectiveness.
Take-home message: Features of a new phacoemulsification platform provide surgeons with improvements to outcomes, safety, and cost and time effectiveness.
By Francis S. Mah, MD, Special to Ophthalmology Times
La Jolla, CA-A surgeon in any field might consider a major new surgical device for three reasons-to achieve better outcomes, to improve safety or reduce complications, or to be more cost effective or time efficient.
Recent experience with a new phacoemulsification system (WhiteStar Signature Pro, Abbott Medical Optics [AMO]) shows that this device satisfies all three criteria.
Outcomes
Outcomes from cataract surgery in the United States are among the best for any medical procedure. Ophthalmologists are fortunate to have had excellent phacoemulsification technology for some time. The latest iterations continue to improve outcomes, especially in the immediate postoperative period.
With this particular system, I routinely have excellent outcomes on postoperative day 1, with minimal to no edema and inflammation. This is likely due to the combination of dual-pump fluidics and transversal ultrasound, both of which reduce the amount of phacoemulsification time and energy required to cut through denser nuclei, for faster recovery of visual acuity.
This might seem like a small improvement-outcomes at 1 month are routinely excellent, anyway-but having good vision in the first few days or week is a major contributor to the “wow factor” that surgeons want patients to experience. It is something that translates directly into increased patient satisfaction.
The transversal ultrasound handpiece (Ellips FX, AMO) moves in a continuous elliptical pattern that makes it easy to cut through the nucleus with reduced intraocular trauma.
Like its predecessor, the device has both peristaltic and venturi vacuum pumps that allow surgeons to switch back and forth between the two. This means one can take advantage of the strengths of each pump style, rather than adapting one’s technique to compensate for the disadvantages.
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