Editor’s Blog: IOLs again grab the attention at ESCRS

As part of Ophthalmology Times’ coverage of the XXXII Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in London this week, Group Content Director Mark L. Dlugoss writes this blog.

London-The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) never fails to entice ophthalmology with cutting-edge technology, and the XXXII Congress in London has not disappointed attendees.

More in this issue: Quantel, AcuFocus receive CE approvals

This year’s congress has displayed a wide range of new technologies from cataract and refractive platforms to diagnostic units to surgical instruments. From all the equipment presented, IOL advances have again captured the attention of attendees.

Though many IOLs were offered to ophthalmology, four particular lenses stood out:

• Abbott Medical Optics (AMO) Tecnis Symfony

• AcuFocus IC-8 small-aperture IOL

• Carl Zeiss Meditec CT Lucia

• iolAMD telescopic implant

Extended range of vision

AMO’s Symfony lens is a presbyopia-correcting, extended-range-of-vision IOL that is designed to increase the distances over which an object appears in focus across a continuous range of distances, without patients sacrificing visual clarity or contrast. The IOL also minimizes halos and glare, making it easier for patients to drive at night, watch television, or view a computer.

The IOL is developed around a proprietary diffractive “echelette” design that elongates the eye’s focus, resulting in a continuous range of vision. The lens design also does not split light that usually results in glare and halos.

In data presented at ESCRS, when the Symfony IOL was implanted in cataract patients, they experienced a full range of continuous, high-quality vision after surgery with a rate of halo and glare comparable to a monofocal lens. AMO is conducting a 3-month study of 111 patients at 14 sites across Europe. While the IOL has received CE Mark in Europe, the company has started clinical trials in the United States.

Small-aperture IOL

AcuFocus presented the IC-8 small-aperture IOL for the first time at the ESCRS meeting. The IOL capitalizes on the success of the Karma inlay, providing the same extended range of vision for cataract patients.

The small-aperture IOL offers improved near and intermediate vision with negligible effect on distance vision. It also offers no competing focal points to degrade image quality and binocularity at far is maintained despite monocular implantation.

The IOL is a single-piece hydrophobic acrylic implanted in the non-dominate eye. The opaque mask is 5-µm thick with 3,200 microperforations and made of PVDF and nanoparticles of carbon. The IC-8 IOL recently received its CE Mark and the company plans to bring the lens to the United States in the future.

C-loop monofocal IOL

Carl Zeiss Meditec expanded its global portfolio of IOLs by introducing the CT Lucia, an aspheric monofocal IOL that features a C-loop design and is offered with both transparent and blue-light filtering. The IOL is designed to compensate for a range of aberrations due to different corneal shapes and lens misalignment.

The lens is available with a fully preloaded injector that makes it easy to use and provides smooth unfolding in the eye. The Lucia also has a square-edge design. This lens is only available in Europe.

Treatment for macular disease

A relatively new company, called iolAMD and based in the United Kingdom, has developed a microincision, injectable, telescopic implant for cataract patients who have vision problems associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).  Made of hydrophobic acrylic with a square edge, the IOL is made of two lenses (one high minus, the other high plus) arranged in a Galilean telescope configuration to provide up to 1.3× magnification.

The plate haptic IOLs are injected separately via a 3-mm corneal incision. The high-minus lens is placed in the capsular bag and the high-plus lens sits in the ciliary sulcus. The lenses contain hyper-aspheric surfaces and wavefront characteristics that reduce optical distortions associated with high-power lenses and increase tolerance of relative lens positioning. The higher tolerance maintains a high-image quality even if the lenses are closer or apart because of physiological differences of each human eye.

The iolAMD has received CE approval in Europe, and the company is planning to bring this lens concept to the United States.

The creative thought process that is engineered in these IOLs stirred some conversations on the floor of the exhibition hall at ESCRS. There also were many other lens offerings from less-known companies, but these four raised eyebrows in London this weekend.