MICS: the European picture

Key Points

So has industry satisfied today's cataract surgeon or does research and development still have some way to go? Naturally, there will always be room for improvement and research will continue to deliver innovative products; however, many do believe that surgeons now have the instruments necessary to allow them to offer patients a truly first-class MICS service. But are the surgeons convinced?

Belgian market intelligence firm, Tools for Growth, set about finding the answer. They assessed European surgeons' attitudes towards MICS, in the hope of finding out how the introduction of these new technologies has influenced the way they actually perform cataract surgery today.

By conducting, what we believe to be, the most comprehensive and insightful independent market research survey ever performed,¹ we can now present the true picture of European cataract surgery today.

The market intelligence firm questioned 915 surgeons in France (n=180), Germany (n=200), the UK (n=175), Italy (n=180) and Spain (n=180) at 720 sites across Europe, including public hospitals, private hospitals, eye clinics and private practices between January and February 2008. The distribution of surgeons questioned accurately mirrored the current climate, with approximately one-third of surgeons operating within a public hospital.

Not only were surgeons questioned about their current practice styles, but they were also asked to predict what style of surgery they believe they would be performing in two years' time.