Cheryl Guttman

Fort Lauderdale, FL-High-dose (5 3 4-Gy fractions; 6 MeV) external-beam radiation therapy has only a modest and very short-lived benefit in the treatment of subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to an interim analysis of data from the Age-Related Macular Degeneration Radiotherapy Trial (AMDRT).

Fort Lauderdale, FL-In a phase I, multicenter, randomized trial, the anti-VEGF antibody fragment rhuFab V2 was shown to be safe and well-tolerated in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, PhD.

San Francisco-CustomCornea wavefront-guided LASIK using the LADARWave aberrometer and the LADARVision 4000 exci- mer laser (Alcon) has produced excellent outcomes in treating myopia and myopic astigmatism.

San Francisco-Three-year FDA clinical trial outcome data support the safety, efficacy, and predictability of the Implantable Contact Lens (ICL, STAAR Surgical) for the treatment of moderate to high myopia, said Stephen G. Slade, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-LASIK with the MEL 80 ex-cimer laser (Carl Zeiss Meditec) guided by Corneal Refractive Surgery Master (CRS-Master)-generated, prolate optimized "aberration-smart ablation profiles" yields out- comes that are better than those achieved with most wavefront-guided treatments, said Dan Z. Reinstein, MD, MA (Cantab), FRCSC, at the annual meeting of the American So-ciety of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-In ongoing FDA clinical trial follow-up, the iris-claw myopic IOL (Artisan/Verisyse, Ophtec/AMO) continues to be associated with excellent refractive and visual outcomes along with outstanding safety and high patient satisfaction, said Elizabeth A. Davis, MD, FACS, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Six-month results show wavefront-guided LASIK for treatment of low-to-moderate myopia and myopic astigmatism results in excellent uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) with preservation of best-corrected vision, minimal induction of higher-order aberrations, and improvement in patient satisfaction with night vision, said Robert K. Maloney, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting.

San Francisco-Use of a larger ablation optical zone size in customized laser-vision correction procedures can minimize surgery- induced increases in higher-order aberrations as well as increases in higher-order aberrations that occur with increasing pupil size, said Scott M. MacRae, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Furthermore, the relationship between pupil size and measured higher-order aberrations emphasizes the importance of performing wavefront measurements with an aperture diameter that is at least 6 mm and preferably greater than the mesopic pupil diameter in order to obtain relevant data, Dr. MacRae said.

San Francisco-Pediatric LASIK is an investigational procedure, but it can be a feasible and safe modality for young patients with anisometropic amblyopia who truly have no other option for improving best-corrected vision, said Jonathan M. Davidorf, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-Transepithelial surface ablation with adjunctive mitomycin-C (Mutamycin, Bristol-Myers Oncology) is a useful technique for achieving good visual outcomes and preventing haze in patients whose LASIK procedure was aborted because of a flap complication, said Laura T. Muller, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Wavefront-guided LASIK with the Allegretto Wave (WaveLight Laser Technologie AG, Erlangen, Germany) excimer laser appears to be safe and effective for correcting myopic astigmatism while reducing higher-order aberrations and improving quality of vision, said A. John Kanellopoulos, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-The Sensar IOL (AMO) with OptiEdge provides patients with excellent visual acuity, and after 1 year, it is associated with a higher incidence of clear posterior capsules and a lower rate of Nd:YAG capsulotomy compared with the parent model without OptiEdge, reported William J. Fishkind, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Interim results from a prospective study comparing the foldable, single-piece, acrylic toric IOL (model SA60TT, AcrySof Toric, Alcon) with its spherical counterpart (model SA60AT, AcrySof, Alcon) indicate the toric device is stable in the bag and effective in reducing corneal astigmatism to provide improved uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) relative to the control, said Edward J. Holland, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

San Francisco-Interest in microphacoemulsification has grown since the introduction of ultrapulse ultrasound technology of Sovereign WhiteStar (AMO). Benefits include cool phaco as well as minimal turbulence and improved followability, according to Randall J. Olson, MD, who spoke at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-The Infiniti Vision System (Alcon) is a highly versatile platform that offers surgeons the option of removing cataracts with advanced ultrasonic phaco-emulsification alone, ultrasound plus oscillation using the NeoSoniX handpiece, or with the new AquaLase liquefaction device, said Richard J. Mackool, MD, at the Amer-ican Society of Cataract and Refractive Sur-gery (ASCRS) annual meeting.

San Francisco-The Tecnis IOL with Z-Sharp Optic Technology (Pfizer) provides patients with better functional vision and optical quality after cataract surgery compared with a conventional foldable acrylic IOL, said Simonetta Morselli, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-The AcrySof Natural IOL (Model SB30AL, Alcon), containing a covalently bonded, blue light-filtering chromophore (ImprUV), more closely mimics the light transmission spectrum of the precataractous adult human crystalline lens compared with standard UV-absorbing IOLs without any adverse effects on vision, said Paul H. Ernest, MD, at the American Society of Cata-ract and Refractive Surgery an-nual meeting.

San Francisco-Bimanual phacoemulsification can be performed safely and effectively with the Millennium Microsurgical System (Bausch & Lomb), said Rosa M. Braga-Mele, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-IOL implantation in pediatric eyes with traumatic cataract offers the opportunity for a favorable visual outcome, but success in these cases depends on a properly timed procedure and diligent surgical care, said M. Edward Wilson, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-With its proprietary apodized diffractive technology, the AcrySof ReSTOR pseudoaccommodative IOL (Alcon) provides patients with excellent near and distance vision and only infrequently causes visual symptoms that are generally minimal and easily tolerated, said David Allen, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Implantation of an aniridic colored IOL (Ophtec) in patients with traumatic aniridia is associated with improved photophobia and high patient satisfaction, reported Pascal Rozot, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

Milwaukee-When an anophthalmic implant is required, in most cases, oculoplastic surgeon Russell S. Gonnering, MD, prefers using a non-wrapped porous sphere.

London-Subconjunctival injection of botulinum toxin type A (Botox, Allergan) can offer an effective treatment for upper eyelid retraction associated with thyroid eye dis-ease, said Jimmy M. Uddin, MD.

San Francisco-New heads available for the Amadeus microkeratome (AMO) are safe and effective in creating lamellar flaps with good consistency and have minimized the incidence of epithelial defects that were somewhat prominent with previous equipment, said David T. Vroman, MD, during the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting here.

San Francisco-The new zero-compression head for the Hansatome microkeratome (Bausch & Lomb) represents an important safety advance for that instrument because it significantly reduces the risk of intraoperative epithelial defects compared with the standard head, said Thomas Kohnen, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-Refractive surgeons using the MK-2000 (Nidek) microkeratome can expect to achieve high-quality flaps whether using the manufacturer's own or another's blade, but they need to recognize that blades from different manufacturers and even from different lots of the same manufacturer may produce flaps that can vary dramatically in thickness, said Robert T. Lin, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-The CB Single Use microkeratome (Moria, Antony, France) is a reliable instrument for flap creation, offering advantages in safety and ease of use, said Karl B. Stonecipher, MD, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-The femtosecond laser (IntraLase FS, IntraLase Corp.) holds promise as a useful tool for performing keratectomy in eyes undergoing lamellar keratoplasty procedures, said Melvin A. Sarayba, MD,at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

San Francisco-LASIK surgeons seeking to create thin flaps in order to maximize ablation depth while maintaining a 250-?m stromal bed would be prudent to set 120 to 130 ?m as their lower limit for intended flap thickness, said Lee T. Nordan, MD, at the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.

Atlanta-When performing aphakic IOL calculations in eyes that have undergone corneal refractive surgery, contact lens over-refraction is the single best method for determining the value of corneal power (K). When preoperative K is known, averaging values obtained from both contact lens over-refraction and the keratometric history technique yields even better results. Nevertheless, both techniques remain suboptimal, yielding highly variable results, according to George O. Waring III, MD.