EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/111385
82 EW MEETING REPORTER Reporting live from IMRSS 2013, San Antonio February 2013 Reporting live from IMRSS 2013, San Antonio Monday, January 7 Editors��� note: This Meeting Reporter contains original reporting by the EyeWorld news team from IMRSS 2013, San Antonio. The 7th annual International Military Refractive Surgery Symposium opened with three military refractive surgeons reporting on the state of vision correction surgery in their respective branches. The Navy reported 135,139 procedures since 2000, with the trend leaning toward more surface ablation procedures in the past year. ���I thought we were going to reach a 50-50 split for 2012,��� reported Navy Capt. Elizabeth M. Hofmeister, M.D., head, Navy Refractive Surgery Center, San Diego, pointing out that 56% of procedures were PRK, 43% were LASIK, and 1% was ICL. ���We had a 7% increase in productivity compared to 2011,��� she added. Capt. Hofmeister gave an overview of current research happening in the Navy, including LASIK in Naval Aviation Accessions, Wavefront-Guided vs. Wavefront-Optimized Femtosecond LASIK, Patient Reported Outcomes with LASIK (PROWL), Operationally Relevant Special Use Contact Lens Evaluation, and Long-Term Refractive Surgery Outcomes. The PROWL study is being done in collaboration with the FDA. Current enrollment is 181 patients, with completion expected in this fiscal year. ���We are more than halfway through patient reported outcomes, and the whole refractive world is waiting to hear how our results are turning out,��� Capt. Hofmeister said. ���All my hopes have been fulfilled that the results are looking most positive, most excellent, with lots of people very happy with their surgery.��� While the distribution of refractive procedures is more even in the Navy, the Air Force reported that PRK remains the procedure of choice for its members, and the Army is trending more toward LASIK. Air Force Maj. Vasudha A. Panday, M.D., San Antonio, said there are currently seven United States Air Force (USAF) laser centers performing PRK in about 85% of cases. About 90,000 procedures have been performed since the USAF refractive surgery was established in 2000. ���Approximately 95% of patients undergoing PRK or LASIK achieve 20/20 uncorrected vision,��� Maj. Panday reported. ���No pilot has been grounded directly as a result of refractive surgery.��� Maj. Panday shared one of her core concerns going into 2013. ���This year it���s all about funding, funding, funding,��� she said, adding that financial considerations will be tied to productivity and workload. ���We are going to need to continue to compete for the budget and explain the value of what we provide,��� Maj. Panday said. Meanwhile, the Army is performing more LASIK, as opposed to the nearly 90% of surface ablations performed in the past. ���With femto technology we have been trending back away from that a little bit,��� said Col. Mark F. Torres, M.D., U.S. Army Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash. Col. Torres said that femtosecond lasers allow for safer and more predictable flaps, which speeds re- covery. A shift toward more hyperopic patients also contributes to the LASIK trend, he added. ���Demand continues to exceed capacity,��� Col. Torres said. Funding also remains a concern in this branch. ���We���re anticipating a larger hit to the budget, but only 6% decrement this fiscal year,��� Col. Torres said. ���Six percent was remarkable considering what was happening to other programs.��� Editors��� note: The physicians have no financial interests related to their presentations. Corneal surgery Focus turned to corneal refractive surgery when special guest speaker Theo Seiler, M.D., professor, University of Zurich, Zurich, presented two keynote addresses, the first on ���Recent Developments in Corneal Refractive Surgery��� and the second on ���The Role of Crosslinking in Corneal Surgery.��� In his first talk, Prof. Seiler warned surgeons about increasing higher-order aberrations during wavefront-customized ablation, which is considered the gold standard. ���That is something every one of us has to be aware of,��� he said. ���We���re not doing the best job we