News

Retinal specialists seemed to hold their collective breaths in 2008 in anticipation of the results of a number of ongoing trials of drugs for various retinal pathologies. Medical retina and the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies were center stage again this year. Some of the highlights include bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) for retinopathy of prematurity, sustained-release ciliary neurotropic factor for dry age-related macular degeneration, anti-complement drugs, and the results of the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research study.

The number of researchers and physicians working in the area of vision and ophthalmology at Indiana University (IU) is expected to double with the completion of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute in 2010.

Alcon Inc. has executed a new agreement and broadened an existing agreement with two different companies to expand its products under development.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) voluntarily recalled a single lot of its ophthalmic viscosurgical device ([OVD] Healon D) after physicians noticed inflammation at some patients' 1-day postoperative visit.

Jonathan Etter, MD, of the Duke Eye Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, won first place honors in the sixth annual Ophthalmology Times Resident Writer's Award program.

Some speculate that the current economic crisis is a result of financial institutions' misplaced optimism and trust in their companies. Ophthalmologists, who run practices, departments, divisions, etc., have to strike the right balance between sharing and recognizing the realities of whatever problems organizations face, and express the confidence that they can be overcome if the right things are done.

Five scientists will receive awards from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in 2009. Four of them will deliver lectures at the organization's annual meeting, May 3 to 7 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Although 2008 was not a year of major advances in glaucoma, it still was a time of progress. Structural imaging devices continue to improve; more data are emerging on surgical alternatives to trabeculectomy; and some novel medical therapies appear interesting, even though they are just in very early stages of clinical investigation. Perspectives on recent developments and current controversies are discussed.

Throughout his address at the opening session of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting, President David W. Parke II, MD said that Ophthalmologists need to recognize that they have "a unique and critical duty to preserve sight where imperiled and to restore sight where impaired," he said. Dr. Parke also suggested ophthalmologists, as physician professionals, follow these "unassailable and majestic" core values: A commitment to patient safety and quality care first; a personal responsibility for patients' welfare; a pledge to respect the dignity of the individual; to be effective stewards of the profession in the service of the public good.

Ophthalmologists are "powerfully positioned" to lead the effort to improve benefits and outcomes while diminishing costs associated with the health care system, said Institute of Medicine President Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, in his keynote address at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

A 51-year-old Latin woman presented to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute with a complaint of blurry vision in both eyes over the last 6 months. The visual loss was described as gradual, affecting both distance and near vision. The patient denied other symptoms of pain, redness, photophobia, floaters, or photopsias. The patient also denied any relevant medical history, medication use, or history of trauma. Family history was non-contributory. Ocular history was significant for "poor vision in my right eye since childhood," but no history of strabismus existed. The patient worked as a clerk at a dairy company and had a 15 pack-year smoking history, with occasional alcohol use.

In 2005, about 1 billion individuals worldwide had presbyopia or age-related difficulty seeing objects nearby and an estimated 410 million with the condition were unable to perform tasks requiring near vision, according to a report in the December issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Eye disorders related to statin use were reported in the Jupiter Study led by F.W. Fraunfelder, MD, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Sciences University.

A U.S. advisory panel said that a prescription eye drug used to treat glaucoma is also safe and effective for adults who want longer, thicker eyelashes.

A team of seven leading ophthalmologists has been assembled to evaluate the accommodative properties of a proprietary material (Collamer, STAAR Surgical) used in the company's accommodating IOLs, it was announced in a prepared statement.

Vision Research Center (VRC), an online research site where experts in the ophthalmic community and patients can share their experiences and opinions concerning technology and therapies, has launched, according to a prepared statement.

A winner has been announced for the latest Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organization prize. The blindness charity Helen Keller International (HKI) has won for its role in onchocerciasis (river blindness) control in 10 African countries.

Eschenbach Optik has been named the exclusive North American distributor of the Ash Technologies Ltd. line of video magnification products.

EyeGate Pharma has received the 2008 North American Frost & Sullivan Ocular Drug Delivery Technology Innovation of the Year Award.

Eye disease and sleep disorders are linked in several ways, according to research published recently in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Alcon Inc. has launched an online educational resource for people who have cataracts, and their caregivers.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, will be the site of the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) meeting in February 2012.

Open enrollment for Medicare Part D drug plans began Nov. 15 and will continue through Dec. 31.

For seniors with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the answer to the question "Do you see what I see?" is always no.

In the workplace, employee relations can be improved by giving and receiving positive strokes, having adult-to-adult transactions more often, and getting rid of unproductive competitiveness.

A new hyperspectral camera can measure the oxygen level of the retinal tissues non-invasively. This may allow detection of retinal changes in patients with diabetes, and other retinal vascular diseases, before structural changes in the capillaries occur.

Using a mathematical model, investigators have estimated that people with ocular hypertension have a nearly 30% risk of developing glaucoma over 20 years, adjusting for the competing risk of mortality. Among ocular hypertensive patients aged more than 70 years, however, a 90% risk of mortality exists over that 20-year period, suggesting that preventive treatment would have little benefit.

As understanding of the multifaceted nature of glaucoma continues to grow, the steps practitioners need to take to monitor progression of the disease evolve. Key steps to take to monitor progression include confirming with repeat testing any visual function loss, remembering that structural measurements have variability, and using structural and functional testing together.

Cataract surgery is a modern success story because of the advances in techniques and technology that have been made over the years. Excellent outcomes are becoming routine, and the field only continues to progress, thanks to a steady stream of innovations. Three cataract surgeons share their thoughts on some of the most noteworthy innovations and trends of 2008 and beyond.

We're to the point that medical care for our children is a discretionary item, less of a priority than digital cable. Blurry vision from a cataract is something that can be dealt with next year or whenever the economy sorts itself out. While it may be impossible to peer into the future, it increasingly appears that accessing medical care may not be the recession-proof priority for Americans that it has been in the past.