News

Anaheim, CA-Cross-linking of corneal collagen by topical treatment with riboflavin and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure shows promise as a safe, effective, simple, and inexpensive nonsurgical treatment for keratoconus, said Theo Seiler, MD, PhD, at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Anaheim, CA-Outcomes from experience spanning more than 30 years and involving hundreds of patients indicate that full-time occlusion is a highly safe and effective method for treating amblyopia and accomplishing the goal of obtaining equal visual acuity, said William E. Scott, MD, in the fourth annual Marshall M. Parks Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Last summer, Pfizer Inc. announced it was selling the surgical ophthalmic business acquired in the acquisition of Pharmacia Inc. (See Ophthalmology Times, Sept. 1, 2003 issue, Page 3).

Pinellas Park, FL-A major, multidisciplinary education and advocacy effort is critical to protecting the public from the significant health hazards associated with ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to a panel of experts.

The FDA has approved Refocus Group's request to begin phase II clinical trials of its scleral implants and scleral spacing procedure for the surgical treatment of presbyopia.

Alcon is asking the FDA to approve a new drug application for its travoprost 0.004% plus timolol 0.5% fixed combination (TTFC) for the reduction of IOP in the treatment of glaucoma.

New York-Lighthouse International and Verilux Inc. are partnering to raise awareness of the need for balanced lighting as an essential component of healthy vision.

Washington, DC-The Medicare Payment Assessment Commission (MedPAC) will recommend that Congress revise the payment system for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) so it falls in line with payments for similar procedures performed at a hospital.

Irvine, CA-IntraLase Corp. is seeing greater acceptance of its all-laser technology, reporting its lasers were used 136% more during the fourth quarter of 2003 than in the same quarter a year ago.

Toronto-QLT Inc. is temporarily lowering the price of verteporfin (Visudyne, Novartis and QLT Inc.) by $55 after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lowered the amount for which it would reimburse physicians.

Gamagori, Japan-Regulatory officials in Europe have granted the CE Mark to NIDEK Co. Ltd. for its Customized Aspheric Treatment Zone (CATz) software for the NIDEK EC-5000 excimer laser system.

Lake Forest, CA-American Optisurgical Inc. has purchased Paradigm Medical Industries Inc.'s phacoemulsification line to supplement its Horizon phaco unit.

San Francisco-The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) will induct its first woman president in 2005, when president-elect Susan H. Day, MD, moves up to that position.

As part of its commitment to the field of ophthalmology, Pfizer Inc. has developed and funded several philanthropic programs in the area of eye care.

Salt Lake City-The Light Adjustable Lens (LAL, Calhoun Vision) is an exciting new technology for the future, said Nick A. Mamalis, MD.

Anaheim, CA-An increasing number of IOLs are being developed to achieve improved vision in patients with extreme levels of myopia. One such lens is the Artisan/ Verisyse phakic IOL (Ophtec USA/Advanced Medical Optics), said R. Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD, who reported the results of the FDA clinical study here at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Anaheim, CA-The recently approved model AT-45 accommodative IOL (Crystalens, eyeonics inc. [formerly C&C Vision]) is expected to be a very useful practice addition for surgeons in their management of presby-opia, said D. Michael Colvard, MD, at the International Society of Refractive Surgery/ American Academy of Oph-thalmology subspecialty day meeting.

Anaheim, CA-Although longer follow-up is needed to determine whether the pseu-dophakic, blue light-filter-ing IOL (AcrySof Natural, Alcon) reduces the risk of progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), available indirect evidence provides sufficient sup-port to advocate its use in cataract surgery, said Robert J. Cionni, MD.

Kansas City, KS-The new Emerald-Ease Simple Syringe Unfolder (AMO) offers cataract surgeons another alternative for implanting the AR-40E IOL (Sensar with Opti- Edge, AMO) through an unenlarged phaco incision, said John D. Hunkeler, MD.

Eugene, OR-Implantation of the anterior surface modified prolate IOL (Tecnis, Pfizer Ophthalmics) results in improved functional vision for cataract surgery patients compared with a standard spherical IOL, said Mark D. Packer, MD.

Munich, Germany-The AcrySof ReSTOR pseudoaccommodative IOL (Alcon) with its apodized diffractive optic provides patients with excellent near visual acuity without compromising distance vision, signifi- cantly reducing contrast sensitivity, or increasing the incidence of severe visual disturbances compared with monofocal con- trols, said James A. Davison, MD, FACS, at the XXI Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons here.

Kansas City, KS-The foldable acrylic AR-40E IOL (Sensar with OptiEdge, AMO) contin-ues to provide positive results as the number of eyes with implants and duration of follow-up increase, said John D. Hunkeler, MD.

Anaheim, CA-Refractive lens exchange (RLE) will become the dominant refractive procedure for treating hyperopia and myopia, as well as presbyopia, according to cataract/refractive specialist I. Howard Fine, MD, who spoke during the American Academy of Ophthalmology's refractive subspecialty day meeting.

Daniel H. Chang, MD, received his BS degree in chemistry with honors from the California Institute of Technology, where his investigational career began with a summer undergraduate research fellowship. He obtained his MD degree from Duke University, where he served as a research analyst. Dr. Chang is currently chief resident in ophthalmology at Emory University and will pursue a fellowship in cornea and external disease next year. Dr. Chang's research activities have included investigations of the free electron laser and corneal transplantation.

Kansas City, KS-LASIK using the S3 Variable Spot Scanning (VSS) excimer laser with ActiveTrack (VISX) to create an 8-mm ablation diameter effectively, predictably, and safely treats myopia and myopic astigmatism in patients with large scotopic pupils, according to the interim results of a prospective study reported by John F. Doane, MD, FACS.

New York-The software adjustability of optical zone size with the LADARVision 4000 excimer laser (Alcon) provides a benefit for treating patients with large entrance pupil sizes because it is likely to minimize total higher-order aberrations after LASIK, said Barrie D. Soloway, MD.

Houston-Results from a clinical practice study directly comparing wavefront analysis using two different technologies-ray tracing (Visual Function Analyzer version 1.1,VFA, Tracey Technologies) and a Hartmann-Shack-type aberrometer (WaveScan Version 3.01, VISX)-show that the machines are in good agreement in their measurements of refraction and root mean square (RMS) values for both lower-order and total aberrations, but not in their measurement of higher-order aberrations, according to Rahul T. Pandit, MD.

Dorado, Puerto Rico-The 26th annual "Current Concepts in Ophthalmology" meeting, sponsored by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine/Wilmer Eye Institute and supported by Ophthalmology Times, will be held Feb. 20 to 23 at the Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort.

Jacksonville, FL-Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. will begin selling ophthalmic pharmaceuticals for the first time under a distribution and supply deal with Santen Pharmaceutical Group.

Monrovia, CA-Officials at STAAR Surgical Co. are scrambling to answer questions raised by a warning letter from the FDA that criticized the company for failing to review product complaints adequately and ensure quality control of its manufacturing materials.