News

There has been considerable progress in treatment for diabetic macular edema (DME) in the last several years, but a look at the investigational pipeline indicates further advances are likely on the horizon, said Peter A. Campochiaro, MD.

Although the prognosis for posterior uveal melanoma remains poor, a look at recent developments and ongoing research provides hope for better outcomes in the future, said Jerry A. Shields, MD, in his delivery of the 2014 Charles L. Schepens, MD, Lecture.

There are already several good reasons for ophthalmic surgeons to perform “heads-up” surgery. Further benefits to support its use are anticipated as the technology continues to evolve, said Claus Eckardt, MD, professor of ophthalmology, Klinikum Frankfurt Höchst, Frankfurt, Germany.

Preliminary results from the Patient Reported Outcomes with LASIK-1 (PROWL-1) and PROWL-2 studies show that at 3 months after surgery, more than 95% of patients are seeing 20/20 or better uncorrected binocularly and more than 90% have monocular uncorrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better, said Malvina B. Eydelman, MD.

A novel medical device from BlephEx allows physicians to perform a painless, in-office procedure to treat blepharitis-thus relieving patients from the chronic and irritating symptoms of inflammatory lid disease and dry eye.

A small study of donor corneal tissues has shown that positive sputum cultures prior to death are not correlated with positive graft cultures after preparation. Despite the presence of low levels of various pathogens, no growth was found in any bacteria or fungus rim cul-tures.

ONO-9054, a drug being developed for the treatment of ocular hypertension and primary open angle glaucoma, showed promising results in a small, randomized trial. Post-hoc analysis of the results showed that nearly 90% of patents who had received doses of 10 µg/mL or higher had IOP measurements of 18 mm Hg or lower following treatment.

A new presbyopia-correcting IOL has a novel optic combining two complementary diffractive technologies. Results from bench and clinical testing show it provides a full range of continuous, high-quality vision, minimizes dysphotopsias, and may be more tolerant to refractive errors than multifocal IOLs.

The FDA has approved VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies’ Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz) for use in patients living with bilateral end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who are age 65 or older.

Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd. have launched a new injector, RaySert Plus, in the United States market after receiving 510(k) clearance from the FDA.

The European Forum Against Blindness (EFAB) has revealed the results of an 11-country study-an extension to the data reported last year covering six countries-which reports on the economic impact of blindness and four leading eyesight conditions, and concluded that blindness and vision loss lead to a reduced quality of life and increased economic burden to society.