Venture to Vienna for European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons 2011

Vienna, Austria-The XXIX Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) will be held in this historic European capital city from Saturday, Sept. 17, to Wednesday, Sept. 21.

This year, ESCRS has announced that all instructional courses at the congress will be free of charge. There is no need to register for these courses, which will be offered Saturday through Tuesday throughout each day.

Immediately preceding the congress, Vienna also will play host to the first dedicated ESCRS Glaucoma Day, which has a scientific program organized by the European Glaucoma Society, and the 2nd EuCornea Congress.

The inaugural ESCRS Glaucoma Day will be held Friday, Sept. 16. Separate registration is required. The program is designed to give attendees a comprehensive overview of all aspects of glaucoma surgery.

The day's agenda includes sections entitled "Lasers and New Devices"; "Tubes and Trabs"; "DS Canal Procedures"; and "Cataracts and Angle Closure."

EuCornea meeting

The meeting of the European Society of Cornea & Ocular Surface Disease Specialists (EuCornea) will meet Sept. 16 to 17.

Topics to be covered include anterior lamellar keratoplasty, managing corneal ectasias, keratoprosthesis, corneal imaging, eye banking, amniotic membrane/ocular surface surgery, the neurotrophic cornea, dry eye, and peripheral ulcerative keratitis.

The EuCornea/ESCRS Symposium, "Cataract and the Endothelium," will be held Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Topics will include: The endothelium-physiology, preoperative evaluation and post-surgical evolution; surgical approaches and the timing of cataract extraction in the presence of endothelial disease; endothelial protection during cataract extraction in normal and grafted eyes; the triple procedure: classical versus modern approach; future non-surgical techniques for endothelial enhancement: mitotic stimulations and gene therapy; and posterior lamellar keratoplasty in pseudophakic and aphakic bullous keratopathy.

The EuCornea Medal Lecture will be given by Peter R. Laibson, MD, on Friday at 10:30 a.m. His topic is "Herpes simplex keratitis: A 50-year retrospective." Dr. Laibson was involved in research on the first anti-viral drugs used for herpes in the eye.

Main symposia

Other daily main symposia are planned:

Binkhorst Medal Lecture

The Binkhorst Medal Lecture, always a highlight of the ESCRS meeting, will be given this year by Marie-José Tassignon, MD, PhD, Sunday from 10:20 to 10:50 a.m. Her topic will be "To bag or not to bag."

Dr. Tassignon trained as a resident at Brussels University Hospital. She became a staff member there in 1981, and was in charge of the vitreoretinal department. She became chief of the Department of Ophthalmology at Antwerp University Hospital in 1991 and full professor at Antwerp University in 2003.

She is involved in IOL design research and invented a novel lens designed to prevent secondary cataract. The clinical outcomes were favorable, motivating her to develop a toric version. She is working on an artificial capsule that allows implantation of her IOL in an eye that does not have capsular support (lasso fixation and bean-shape ring fixation).