News

Geneva-Visual impairment and blindness are taking a toll on poor countries in terms of lost productivity. About 80% of these cases could be prevented or treated, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

Orlando-Abdullah Abdullah, MD, the foreign minister of the transitional government of Afghanistan, asked members of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) to help his country in any way they could to improve the state of eye care for 22 million people.

This study was designed to determine treatment sequences in patients whose advanced glaucoma was not able to be adequately controlled with maximum medical therapy.

Cincinnati, OH-The quarterly Video Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery has published two more issues in 2002 that are available free to residency programs in the United States and surgeons abroad.

Nidek gains approval for operating system, eye-tracking deviceThe FDA has approved Nidek Inc.'s Windows-based operating system and new intraoperative eye-tracking device for the Nidek EC-5000 excimer laser system. The laser system is approved for commercial distribution in the United States for LASIK and PRK for myopia with or without astigmatism.

Fairfax, VA-Don Bell, who has spent 8 years handling membership, special projects, and program development with the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), takes on a new role as director of the ASCRS Foundation.

Mountain View, CA-IRIDEX Corp. will design and manufacture a green, 532-nm laser photocoagulator module for Bausch & Lomb to include with its Millennium Microsurgical System.

Birmingham, AL-The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has opened the first fully integrated low vision rehabilitation center in the United States.

New York-Amar Agarwal, MD, and Murali K. Aasuri, MD, have won first and second prizes, respectively, in the phacopearls.com video contest sponsored by Bausch & Lomb.

Santa Clara, CA-Lumenis Ltd. is hoping to broaden the use of its ophthalmic laser products via two new strategic alliances with Ellex Medical Pty. Ltd. and Moria S.A.

Fremont, CA-Addition Technology Inc. will double its product line in Europe since it recently received a CE marking for six new sizes of Intacs prescription inserts. The new sizes extend the availability of the inserts in both smaller increments (0.275, 0.325, 0.375, and 0.425 mm) and new sizes (0.21 and 0.23 mm).

New York-Innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors are key to solving many of the complex health challenges facing the developing world today, according to former President Jimmy Carter; Merck Chairman, President, and CEO Raymond V. Gilmartin; and other participants of a roundtable discussion held prior to World Sight Day in October.

Nice, France-An innovative ultra-thin, small-incision IOL featuring a unique optical system addresses existing limitations of IOL technology and has the potential to revolutionize cataract and phakic refractive IOL surgery, according to J. Charles Casebeer, MD, at the XX Congress of the European Society of Cat-aract and Refractive Surgeons.

Posterior polar cataracts represent one of the more challenging cases for cataract surgeons. The difficulty with these cataracts stems from a frank defect or abnormal attenuation in the posterior capsule in the region of the polar cataract and an increased risk of posterior capsule rupture at any stage of the lens extraction procedure.

Kathmandu, Nepal-What may be one man's elective may be another man's necessity. Such is the case with LASIK in the Himalayas.

Like other areas of ophthalmology, refractive surgery enjoyed a number of refinements and advancements over the past year, including the FDA approval of both wavefront technology and conductive keratoplasty for hyperopia, and advances in refractive IOLs, among others. However, wavefront technology took center stage as the development cited as having the most potential benefit for patients undergoing refractive procedures. Several refractive surgeons weigh in on advances in their subspecialty in 2002.

In a recent Market Scope report onphakic IOLs, editor David Harmon observes: "Phakic IOLs have become a standard part of the European ophthalmologist's tool kit. CE Mark regulatory approval has been granted to four manufacturers of the devices . . . Europe has become the center of worldwide phakic IOL clinical experience . . . European surgeons implanted an estimated 15,350 phakic IOLs last year."

San Francisco-The angiostatic steroid anecortave acetate continues to show promise as a safe and effective treatment for subfoveal, exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to results from an interim analysis of an ongoing phase II trial.

For John Bingner Lyman, MD, time spent in his wood shop is just plane fun.

Nice, France-By extending the ablation optical zone and overall treatment zone, physicians may be able to decrease the frequency and severity of glare, according to early results from a study of patients treated with the VISX STAR S3 laser.

San Diego-A large ablation zone and a transition zone are two factors that, when combined during LASIK, seem to decrease the number of patient complaints about the quality of vision in the early postoperative period, according to Steven C. Schallhorn, MD.

Irvine, CA-A modified microkeratome shows promise for making the task of limbal stem cell harvesting simpler, better, and more efficient, said Roy S. Chuck, MD, PhD, who has been involved in the development of this instrument.

Orlando-Advanced vision testing with wave-front analyzers represents exciting new technology for the entire eye-care field, said Daniel S. Durrie, MD, in the Barraquer Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Boston-New technology to improve retinal imaging is resulting in better diagnosis and clinical follow-up.

Nice, France-Although the incidence of epithelial ingrowth as a complication of LASIK is declining, considerable uncertainty remains over when to intervene, according to Arun C. Gulani, MD. In response, Dr. Gulani has devised a grading system to help surgeons answer that question by placing values on the density of the epithelial ingrowth

Therapies for retinal diseases that re-mained untreatable for decades are seeing major advances. So much so that Jason Slakter, MD, clinical professor of ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, and surgeon director, Manhattan Eye, Ear, & Throat Hospital, New York, has proclaimed the first years of the new mil-lennium as the "Decade of the Macula."

Editor's Note: HIV/AIDS continues to be a major health problem, not only in the developing world, but in North America and Europe as well. Although the incidence of ocular complications of HIV/AIDS has decreased dramatically since the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the prevalence of HIV positivity continues toincrease, particularly among heterosexual women and minorities.

Publication of results from the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) and the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial (EMGT) represents two of the most notable events occurring in the field of glaucoma in 2002, but the year is also marked by a number of other significant developments with the potential to influence patient evaluation and management.

Editor's Note: This is the final story in a three-part series covering a forum on "Ethnicity and Glaucoma" at Johns Hopkins University to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Baltimore Eye Survey.

New York-Fluctuations in IOP during the day and night can be important for the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma, according to Robert N. Weinreb, MD, who spoke during the Glaucoma 2002 meeting here.