Articles

In 1999, the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated its worldwide campaign, "Vision 2020 - The Right to Sight". The main aim of the programme was to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness by the target date of 2020. Hungary is participating in this "Fight for Sight" initiative. Here, J?nos N?meth summarizes the progress that he and his colleagues have made over the last five years, showing the current state of, and trends in, ophthalmic healthcare in Hungary, as well as the incidence of blindness in the country.

Didier Ducournau talks about the development and growth of the EVRS and on his personal vision for vitreoretinal surgeons.

Alcon has added another device to its product portfolio in the form of the LADAR6000 excimer laser with high-speed ablation, which received FDA approval last month.

Swedish ophthalmologic research has a long tradition dating back to the slit lamp of Gullstrand of the early 20th century through later concepts such as the use of sodium hyaluronate in cataract surgery and latanoprost in glaucoma treatment. University departments of ophthalmology are present at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and at the universities of Uppsala, Lund (Lund and Malm?), Link?ping, Gothenburg and Ume?.

Intravitreal triamcinolone will, more often than not, lead to the development of cataracts in eyes with diabetic macular oedema (DME), according to the results of a study published in the March 17, 2006 issue of Eye.

CHMP gives Ganfort thumbs up

Spring has finally sprung, although I have a feeling that the pleasant weather associated with this season has decided to give England a miss this year! Indeed, we are already into the month of May and with several big ophthalmology meetings already behind us, we still have many others to look forward to, particularly this month, which sees, amongst others, the DOC, EURETINA, and the Turkish, French and Italian ophthalmology societies taking centre stage for their annual meetings. Hopefully we will get the chance to meet some of you there.

The DOG (Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft) was founded in 1857 when a group of like-minded ophthalmologists, brought together by Albrecht von Greafe, met in Heidelberg to discuss the latest developments in their profession. This first meeting was organized to take place a few days before the international ophthalmology conference in Brussels with the idea that they would then travel on together to attend. In all, twelve people arrived in Heidleberg, where discussion topics ranged from the use of compression bandages to glaucoma treatment. It was considered such a success that they agreed to meet again the following year.

In answer to the question: "What specifically makes SLT different from ALT in its action?" we offer the following response:

With the world's population getting older and the rate of blindness increasing, cataract surgeons worldwide are facing some clinical challenges in the years ahead, according to Stephen A. Obstbaum, MD, of the United States.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) has pledged $1 million to support the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery's (ASCRS) foundation sponsored research in the field of refractive lenticular science.

Allergan and Alcon have settled Allergan's patent infringement lawsuit, contending that Alcon's proposed brimonidine 0.15% product infringed two brimonidine-related patents owned by Allergan.

Errors in the measurement of retinal thickness are a frequent occurrence with optical coherence tomography (OCT) segmentation and analysis algorithms, according to a study published in the February 2006 issue of Ophthalmology.

Earlier this year, Ophthalmology Times Europe caught up with two admirable people: the President of SICR, Roberto Pinelli and his friend and SICR colleague, Paolo Fazio. We spoke about refractive surgery practice, education and patient management and heard how both men plan to change the way that their industry is perceived and the way that it is practiced through their new society. Please go to page 19 to find out exactly what they are planning. Meanwhile, here's a snippet of information on the society to get you started.

Novartis has announced the submission of Lucentis (ranibizumab) for European Union approval, for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Surgeons should not feel ashamed if they only manage to see a few patients, devotion to the patient and then to your practice is of paramount importance. Then, and only then, will you be doing your job well.

Ever wondered what it must be like for today's refractive surgeon, having to perform a job to the best of their ability whilst sometimes facing criticism for being "too commercial"? The refractive surgery industry has suffered its fair share of setbacks over recent years and certainly, some clinics have deservedly earned this criticism for not performing the job adequately.

I embarked on a memorable trip to Africa recently and, along with a wonderful team of skilled ophthalmologists and nurses, we set up two eye camps in Namibia and Zambia. Our mission was to study corneal thickness in native Africans so that we could, in the future, establish the relationship between corneal thickness and glaucoma in this population.

EVER traces back its roots to the late 1980s when, following a decision made during the Association for Eye Research (AER) meeting in Granada, Spain, the AER and the European Community Ophthalmic Research Association (ECORA) joined forces to create JERMOV (Joint Meetings in Ophthalmology and Vision), headquartered in Montpelier, France. The idea behind the amalgamation was to unite societies with a common interest and to create a larger, stronger, European society, dedicated to innovation in vision and eye research. By 1997, JERMOV had evolved, the society was reformed, its headquarters moved to Belgium and the name EVER was born to better reflect the society's mission ? to advocate and support research, development and innovation in vision and eye research. The society's offices are, today, housed alongside those of the Belgian Ophthalmological Society in Leuven.

PR Pharmaceuticals and OSI Pharmaceuticals have entered into an exclusive agreement to develop a sustained release formulation of the neovascular AMD treatment Macugen (pegaptanib sodium injection).

The month of February witnessed the first approval of an anti-angiogenesis therapy for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Europe. The European Commission granted marketing authorisation for Macugen (pegaptanib sodium injection) for the treatment of neovascular AMD.

It was a real pleasure to meet with some of you at the ESCRS Winter Meeting in Monte Carlo last month. The event was a great success for me; not only was I able to escape the miserable climate afforded by the typical English Winter, but I got to see some wonderful people there who, not only were a joy to meet and speak with, but who also provided me with extremely valuable feedback and support. Thank you!

Brown syndrome is defined as an ocular motility disorder, characterized by an inability to elevate the adducted eye actively or passively. The causes can be congenital or acquired, and the problem can be permanent or transient. Clinically, Brown syndrome is characterized by a significant limitation of elevation in the adducting position that occurs in the majority of cases and improved elevation is usually apparent in the midline, with generally normal elevation in abduction. Exodeviation (V pattern) can occur on elevation in the midline. Many patients are orthophoric in the primary position, although sometimes hypotropia can develop with a compensatory face turn towards the opposite eye. A positive forced duction test is usually the hallmark of Brown syndrome.

The impotence drugs Viagra (sildenafil) and Cialis (tadalafil) may increase the risk of developing non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION), according to a study published in the February 2006 issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

This month we had the pleasure of speaking with Zdenek Gregor, FRCS, FRCOphth, President of the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE). You can read what he had to say in our interview with Dr Gregor. Just as a taster, here is some background information on the society.

Novartis Ophthalmics' and Genentech's investigational treatment for AMD has again delighted its developers by meeting its one-year primary efficacy endpoint of maintaining vision in patients with wet AMD during the first year of the two-year ANCHOR study.

Since its inception in 1956, the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) has grown from a small entity into a conglomerate of national ophthalmological societies from all 40 European countries, representing more than 40,000 European ophthalmologists. We speak with President Zdenek Gregor about the changing face of the society, the importance of collaboration and the way the society has adapted to an ever-evolving Europe.

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the second edition of Ophthalmology Times Europe.

Published in the September/October 2005 edition of Journal of Refractive Surgery, Thomas Hammer and colleagues compared the quality and reproducibility of cuts produced by four automatic microkeratomes, and found that each performed similarly on overall quality of cut surface, with one out of the four, performing exceptionally better than the rest on quality of cut edge.

The 2005 annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) saw the event record the third highest attendance figures in its history.