ESCRS Preview

Once again the largest European ophthalmology event, that is a highlight of the year, is upon us. This year's XXX Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons will be held in Milan, Italy. The programme will yet again showcase some of the upcoming trends and most-talked about devices and techniques in the comprehensive range of symposia, courses, live surgeries, awards ceremonies, free papers and posters, as well as the exhibition, which will be held from 7–11 September.

To assist you at this year's event, we at OTEurope and two of our Editorial Advisory Board members, Professor Günther Grabner and Professor David Spalton, have compiled a concise guide to each day and highlighted our recommendations, which is followed by our ESCRS Showcase section highlighting some of the exciting products to be featured in the exhibition centre.

Friday 7 September

Some of our highlights for this year's Glaucoma Day include Dr Renato De Natale's discussion 'Economic Aspects' in the first portion of the programme on the Significance of sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests in the ageing population, Professor Gábor Holló will then present his introduction to 'Structure' in the Structure and function: sense and non-sense discussion. A short break will follow these two areas of discussion and then glaucoma therapy will be tackled in Medical Treatment: new approaches and old problems. This session will include a talk by Dr F. Meier-Gibbons on 'Preservative-free medications: in which patients' benefit outweighs costs' and following on from this there will be discussions on Neuroprotection downloaded and IOP Measurements and Clinical Relevance.

The Keynote lecture will take the spot just before the lunch break and will be given by Professor Leonardo Mastropasqua, who is a wellrespected and distinguished leader in the field. He will present on the topic of 'Trans-scleral outflow in glaucoma'.

After lunch the focus will turn to glaucoma surgery. The five discussions in the afternoon section of the programme will include talks on old and new techniques as well as devices. One of our highlights will be the presentation in the Surgical Devices session by Professor Antonio Fea on 'iStent', which has recently been approved by the FDA for use in combination with cataract surgery to reduce IOP in patients with mild to moderate open-angle glaucoma and cataract. Dr Keith Barton will conclude the session with his closing remarks on what promises to be an insightful and exciting day for glaucoma specialists.