EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78716
40 EW ASCRS PREVIEW March 2012 April 20-24, 2012 Cornea Day 2012 promises excitement by Michelle Dalton EyeWorld Contributing Editor A game changer in how subspecialty days are presented is in store for this year's Cornea Day attendees A ttendees expecting the tried-and-true podium presentations at this year's Cornea Day will be pleasantly surprised, promised Terry Kim, M.D., co-chair and ASCRS Cornea Clinical Commit- tee member. Cornea Day, sponsored by the Cornea Society and ASCRS, is being held this year on Friday, April 20, the day before the official start of the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress. "We've done a few things this year to shake it up a bit," Dr. Kim said. "We've made a concerted effort femtosecond PK/DALK. "Then we move right into what I think will be a heated discussion on DSEK versus DMEK," Dr. Kim said. "Immediately after that, we'll argue the virtues of limbal stem cell transplant versus keratoprosthesis." In each of the presentations, the pre- senter will have only 5 minutes to argue his point before a discussion period begins. "Controversy and a lively de- bate will be the focus of this year's program," Prof. Tan said. "These are challenges for surgeons where there is no right answer." Prof. Tan added he is particu- Terry Kim, M.D. to appeal to both the general oph- thalmologist and the corneal special- ist." To easily differentiate the two for attendees, the program is includ- ing asterisks to identify those topics Dr. Kim and the rest of the commit- Donald Tan, F.R.C.S. tee felt were more appropriate for corneal specialists. Great debates "Other than the content, the way we're running the various programs is quite different," said Donald Tan, F.R.C.S., president of the Cornea Society. "We'll be having some really interesting approaches, including a battle of the experts. A great exam- ple is DSEK [Descemet's stripping en- dothelial keratoplasty] versus DMEK [Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty], with Mark Terry, M.D., and Frank Price, M.D., argu- ing for their techniques." Cornea Day will feature "several point-counterpoint arguments, but this year we've asked people to argue for the counterpoint of their com- fort zone. So, for instance, we've asked Sonia Yoo, M.D., who does not believe phakic IOLs are a more appropriate choice than LASIK in post-PK [penetrating keratoplasty] eyes, to argue for the motion, and Jose Guell, M.D., who is known to be pro-phakic IOL, to argue against the motion. It's counter to what people are used to seeing up on the podium, and I think it will add a dy- namic we've never seen before," Prof. Tan said. Controversies in corneal and ocular surface transplantation In lieu of presentations with limited time for audience participation, both co-chairs noted the first session alone will be a "game-changer," Prof. Tan said. The co-chairs invited top experts in the field to discuss PK versus deep anterior lamellar kerato- plasty (DALK) versus combined larly interested in hearing about corneal challenges for the cataract surgeon, which includes presenta- tions on cataract surgery in patients with previous refractive surgery, if premium IOLs are appropriate for patients with corneal disease or corneal transplants, and how to manage iris defects. "I'm hoping to learn a lot from this session. We've got a great panel of people who can address these issues that we see every day in surgery," Prof. Tan said. Dr. Kim said he's particularly in- terested in hearing about using the femtosecond laser in softening the lens for presbyopia, listening to the debate on hysteresis, getting an update on the latest in corneal me- chanics, and learning about corneal crosslinking for infectious keratitis. "I can't think of a better way to kick off ASCRS than this year's Cornea Day program," Dr. Kim said. "We want to encourage everyone to attend." "This year's presentations have been balanced so there are in-depth topics for corneal specialists and ses- sions for general ophthalmologists or residents," Prof. Tan said. "It will be a program for everyone." The Cornea Day planning com- mittee included the following ASCRS members: Terry Kim, M.D., Donald Tan, M.D., Anthony J. Aldave, M.D., W. Barry Lee, M.D., Marian S. Macsai, M.D., Francis S. Mah, M.D., Neda Shamie, M.D., and David T. Vroman, M.D. EW Editors' note: Dr. Kim and Prof. Tan have no financial interests related to this article. Contact information Kim: 919-681-3568, terry.kim@duke.edu Tan: snecdt@pacific.net.sg