Articles

Today, a visit to the commercial exhibitions of major meetings is a real show, with companies’ booths offering amazing high-tech devices that promise to address the specific needs we have in our practices. Although such technology impresses us, we seldom receive information on the evidence-based data surrounding its effectiveness, its cost-benefit analysis and the potential for obsolescence.

Adding objective point-of-care dry eye diagnostics to your practice has deep, measurable effects, including more accurate and consistent IOL power calculations.

High-intensity focused ultrasound cyclocoagulation is safe and effective in most refractory glaucomatous eyes. Complete success was achieved in 80% (24/30) of treated eyes that had undergone the maximum of three procedures.

Two questionnaires used to measure quality of life in people with strabismus overlap but differ in important areas, according to researchers.

This case study presents the results and advantages of phacoemulsification, which Dr Dieter W Klass and his team applied after previous implantation of an iris-fixated phakic IOL (pIOL) (Artisan, Ophtec) for the correction of high myopia without explantation of the pIOL.

A pioneering dye-based technique that enables aqueous humour outflow to be studied has the potential to improve glaucoma angle-based procedures and surgery outcomes.

An implantable glaucoma sensor has received CE mark approval for marketing in the European Union. The sensor (Eyemate, Implandata Ophthalmic Products) can provide frequent IOP readings, informing patients and their physicians about how the pressure changes by time of day and from one day to another.

A committee of the European Medicines Agency has recommended approval of cenegermin (Oxervate, Dompé) eye drops for neurotrophic keratitis.

Mooren’s ulcers completely healed in 5 patients treated with rituximab after conventional treatment failed, according to researchers.

An aircraft that houses an ophthalmic teaching hospital, containing an on-board operating theatre, training and broadcasting facilities, and treatment rooms, recently visited London Stansted Airport in the UK.

Most ocular structures become luminescent for a short time when exposed to a light source of appropriate wavelength; this phenomenon is known as autofluorescence (AF). AF is due to the presence of fluorescent substances called fluorophores.

The IC-8 IOL (AcuFocus) is one of the new class of extended-depth-of-focus (EDOF) IOLs that is definitively altering the landscape of cataract surgery in Europe and around the world. Whereas monofocal and multifocal lenses have one or two distinct focal points, an EDOF-IOL creates one elongated focal point, though each lens does so in a different way.

Researchers have injected their first patient with a virus engineered to remodel the gene responsible for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP).

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose--a line written (1913) by Gertrude Stein and its variations in a famous quotation are often interpreted as meaning “things are what they are--makes a statement of the law of identity, and in the post-factum age is ever more meaningful. An ophthalmologist could as well write: “Cataract is a cataract is a cataract is a cataract,” ICD-10 Code H25.0 for the diagnosis “Cataracta senilis incipiens” in its earliest stage and notably with a surgical history of more than 2,500 years.

Failure to follow-up after ophthalmology appointments can damage patients’ health, a new study suggests. “In our view, national consideration should be given to create targets for reporting how well providers are managing follow-up patients,” reported A Davis and colleagues in the journal Eye.

Preliminary studies suggest disulfiram could aid in the treatment of mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP). Used topically, the drug may inhibit aldehyde deydrogenase (ALDH), which plays a key role in fibrosis, wrote JK Dart, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London.

Only weak evidence supports the use of IOLs that filter visible blue light, researchers say. “On the basis of currently available evidence, one cannot advocate for the use of blue-light-filtering IOLs over UV-only filtering IOLs,” wroite X. Li, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland, and colleagues.

Chloramphenicol remains effective against Gram-positive bacteria, the most common agent in bacterial conjunctivitis, researchers say.

The loss of autoantibodies may serve as useful biomarkers for glaucoma, according to Nadine von Thun Und Hohenstein-Blaul, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany, and colleagues.

The global epidemic in type 2 diabetes mellitus is of unprecedented proportions. In absolute numbers, it probably exceeds any previous epidemic in the history of mankind. There are now more than 400 million people with diabetes in the world, and the number is projected to exceed 600 million by 2030.

Electronic retina implants can restore enough vision for some patients to pursue tasks of daily living, according to RE MacLaren, part of a team testing the devices.

It’s very hard to tell the difference between Fusarium and Aspergillus species with in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) of fungal keratitis, researchers say.

Fluorescence of lens proteins could help understand, diagnose, and treat cataracts, researchers say.“Rather than waiting for the condition to appear, it could be possible to diagnose and monitor cataract before it forms, allowing preventative measures to be taken where possible,” said Rory Duncan of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburh, United Kingdom in a press release.

Argon laser peripheral iridoplasty (ALPI) significantly widens the anterior chamber angle circumferentially in eyes with occludable angles treated with laser peripheral iridotomy, researchers say.

Ocriplasmin (Jetrea, ThromboGenics) may achieve lower macular hole closure rates than in trials, new British and Irish data suggests. Also, “the incidence of adverse events was greater than previously reported,” wrote RJ Haynes of Bristol Eye Hospital in Bristol, United Kingdom, and colleagues in the journal Eye.

Serum and aqueous levels of Klotho levels are reduced in pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXF) and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PEG) while Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is increased, researchers say.

More citizens from the United Kingdom are traveling abroad for laser eye procedures, according to a medical travel website. Enquiries from the United Kingdom into overseas clinics for laser procedures rose 60% in the 12 months ending November 15, 2016, according to WhatClinic.com, which lists medical clinic by location.

The finding raises questions about whether the supplements could play a role in glaucoma, wrote H. Esfandiari of the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran and colleagues in the journal Eye.

With the start of each new year also comes the hope for many innovations and advances. On top of that, I hope we can still make progress for our patients in our beloved field of ophthalmology.