EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78716
36 EW ASCRS PREVIEW March 2012 April 20-24, 2012 Beyond polite conversation by Maxine Lipner Senior EyeWorld Contributing Editor on femtosecond laser cataract sur- gery. "I think the one that people are going to pay the most attention to is the one on femtosecond laser cataract surgery, just because of the great interest that has been gener- ated over the past year on this topic," he said. Meanwhile, Dr. Dupps, Cole Eye Nick Mamalis, M.D. Getting to the heart of current cataract and refractive issues A t this year's symposium on "Controversies in Cataract and Refractive Surgery," practitioners will square off on im- portant ophthalmic topics ranging from cataract-related refractive surprises to consideration of ectasia scoring systems. During the sympo- sium, slated to take place on Mon- day, April 23, from 1-2:30 p.m. in William J. Dupps Jr., M.D. the McCormick Place West Conven- tion Center, speakers will highlight different sides of those currently charged issues potentially sparking a host of divergent opinions from ophthalmologists. Most prominent conflicts Nick Mamalis M.D., professor of ophthalmology, John A. Moran Eye Center, ophthalmology department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, who will be co-moderating the session with William J. Dupps Jr., M.D., thinks that the talk sure to garner the most interest is the one Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleve- land, thinks that the role of the ectasia scoring system will also draw keen attention. "I think that when Dr. Randleman and his colleagues put the scoring system together it was a major breakthrough because it was the first time that someone did a multivariant regression model of different risk factors for ectasia, and they had access to an enormous number of cases," Dr. Dupps said. Meanwhile, Dr. Pepose will be pos- ing a challenge to the system. "They found a number of cases of ectasia that didn't fit the model," he said. "So it brings up some interesting issues about the populations that were studied in each case." Other thorny issues Another area that speakers will be touching on is the different ways of managing cases of post-cataract surgery refractive surprise. "Dr. Hovanesian is going to be talking about doing the correction of refrac- In 1900, Chicago successfully completed a massive engineering project—reversing the flow of the Chicago River so that it emptied into the Mississippi River instead of Lake Michigan. Each year, the Chicago River is dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day Source: Explore Chicago tive error with the laser, whereas I'm going to talk about doing more with a piggyback IOL or an IOL ex- change," Dr. Mamalis said. "It's just two different ways to approach the same problem." Similarly, speakers will also be delving into the best way to perform post-LASIK enhancements. "There are a couple of different ways that you can approach it—one is to relift the flap or do LASIK with a recutting of the flap, and the other is to sim- ply do a PRK [photorefractive kerate- ctomy] overlaying it," Dr. Mamalis said. "We're going to have some dis- cussion on those two different op- tions [for] LASIK enhancement." Speakers will also be tackling the hot-button issue of using crosslinking treatments in young patients. Dr. Dupps will be talking about considering age-related limits here. "There's a push toward doing this earlier in the disease because it's primarily a stabilizing treatment, at least the way that it's done cur- rently," Dr. Dupps said. "So if you're going to stabilize the disease, it's probably best to do it earlier before patients have symptoms." He pointed out that there are a lot of children who have advanced kerato- conus by the time they're in their early teens. His talk will be con- trasted by one from Elena Albè, M.D., who along with Paolo Vinciguerra, M.D., has a wealth of experience treating pediatric patients with the technique. Dr. Mamalis hopes that atten- dees come away from the session with more information on how to view these hot-button topics. "We want to make sure that this is not just an argument or different opin- ions on a particular topic," he said. "We want to present as much infor- mation as possible so that clinicians can make their own decisions on how to view or take care of a partic- ular problem." EW Editors' note: Dr. Mamalis has no financial interests related to this article. Dr. Dupps has financial interests with Avedro (Waltham, Mass.) and Topcon Medical Systems (Oakland, N.J.). Contact information Dupps: 216-444-8396, bjdupps@sbcglobal.net Mamalis: 801-581-6586, nick.mamalis@hsc.utah.edu