Symposium highlights the latest in IOL, phaco technology

Latin American ophthalmologists were given a glimpse of the latest phacoemulsification and IOL technology during a breakfast symposium Friday morning at the Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology.

Sponsored by Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX, United States, the symposium highlighted some of the company's latest proprietary lenses-particularly the toric (AcrySof Toric) and aspheric natural (AcrySof IQ) IOL, as well as the apodized diffractive (ReSTOR) IOL-and torsional technology.

Eduardo Carreno, MD, of Santiago, Chile, opened the session with a presentation on the AcrySof toric IOL. After outlining the features of the IOL, he presented the results of several clinical studies and discussed the visual success of the toric lens in those studies.

Dr. Carreno also offered his surgical technique in implanting the toric lens. He emphasized to his audience the importance of using the online form to calculate the refraction of the lens. Dr. Carreno then demonstrated the proper alignment of the lens for the best visual outcomes.

He concluded his talk by relating his personal experience with the toric lens, including several patient cases.

Fernando Aguilera, MD, of Mexico, followed with a presentation on the torsional technology developed for a phacoemulsification system (Infiniti Vision System, Alcon). To provide the audience with an understanding of the technology, Dr. Aguilera presented animation film about how the torsional handpiece (OZil, Alcon) works within the eye during a phaco procedure.

After reviewing the clinical literature on torsional technology, Dr. Aguilera continued by comparing the parameters and clinical results between torsional and traditional phaco. He also presented data on his own study involving the outcomes of 310 patients.

Jose Luis Rincon, MD, of Caracas, Venezuela, presented the clinical results with a "complete" range of visual quality when he implanted the apodized diffractive IOL in his patients. In a study involving 966 patients, Dr. Rincon provided the results of these patients when the lens was implanted bilaterally.

Dr. Rincon showed solid clinical results among these patients when it came to close, intermediate, and distance vision. He added that 90% of his patients achieved 20/25 vision without correction and 70% achieved good intermediate vision without correction.

Dr. Chavez of Mexico wrapped up the symposium by presenting a "quality-versus-quantity" report in regard to aspherical lenses and how the AcrySof IQ fits into the market.

Dr. Chavez provided a rundown of the various spherical and aspherical lenses and their differences. He also outlined the visual requirements necessary for patients if they wish to be implanted with the AcrySof IQ lens.

He provided the clinical outcomes of a personal study he conducted on 15 patients that looked at vision quality using aspherical lenses. Dr. Chavez reported that 93% of those patients had attained better visual quality.