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E W CORNEA 104 March 2014 applied as outcomes in conjunction w ith participant symptoms." Future trials should include both short-term (two to four weeks) and long-term (six to 12 months) outcomes, they added. F rom a practical perspective Other dry eye researchers agree with the investigators' conclusion that t here's a need for large-scale trials involving serum drops for dry eye. "It's time for a big study, but this isn't an area companies are ex- cited about funding unless there's a product involved," said Stephen C. Pflugfelder, MD, professor of ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. B ecause dry eye improvement involves the reporting of subjective patient-reported symptoms, it makes efficacy reporting that much more difficult, Dr. Pflugfelder said. Dr. Pflugfelder uses serum in severe dry eye cases where patients do not respond to other common therapies, including cyclosporine o phthalmic emulsion (Restasis, Allergan, Irvine, Calif.). He also will use plasma instead of serum drops. Penny A. Asbell, MD, professor of ophthalmology, and director of the cornea and refractive services, Department of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount S inai, New York, will use serum drops with appropriate patients but added it can be a "pain in the neck" to create the drops due to sterile technique, the process a lab must go through to create the drops, the po- tential risk for infections because the drops do not have preservatives, and the special care patients must take to s tore the drops. She thinks trials such as the ones identified in the Cochrane re- view are also difficult because they include patients who have tried just about all other dry eye treatments, with no effect. "We need a bigger trial, but with people who are not at the end of t heir rope," she said. Some research may be on the horizon, however. Dr. Pan said that after the Cochrane review was pub- lished, a group of Australian re- searchers emailed her about their plans for a larger-scale trial with serum drops. Plus, Dr. Asbell said she is involved with clinical research from R-Tech Ueno (Tokyo) that will enroll patients for a phase 1/2 clini- cal trial of genetically recombinant human serum albumin solution (RU-101) for severe dry eye in the United States. Albumin is the main protein in blood and in serum eye drops, Dr. Asbell said. EW Reference 1. Pan Q, Angelina A, Zambrano A, Marrone M, Stark WJ, Heflin T, Tang L, Akpek EK. Autolo- gous serum eye drops for dry eye. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2013; 8. Art. No.: CD009327. DOI: 10.1002/14651858. CD009327.pub2. Editors' note: Dr. Asbell has financial interests with R-Tech Ueno. Drs. Pan and Pflugfelder have no financial interests related to this article. Contact information Asbell: penny.asbell@mssm.edu Pan: panqing@hotmail.com Pflugfelder: stevenp@bcm.tmc.edu Think You Know Everything About Femtosecond Cataract Lasers? THINK AGAIN Join LENSAR ™ for a Thought-Provoking Breakfast April 27, 2014 @ 6:00 am Dr. Kerry Assil • Dr. Jonathan Solomon • Dr. Robert Weinstock Dr. Mark Packer • Dr. Keith Liang Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel Grand Ballroom (concourse level) Sunday, April 27th 6:00 am-6:30 am Registration and Breakfast 6:30 am-7:30 am Program RSVP Now > www.EyeWorld.org/meetings/lensar © 2014 LENSAR, Inc. All rights reserved. LENSAR, the LENSAR logo and Augmented Reality are trademarks of LENSAR, Inc. 02/2014 Sponsored by T his is a non-CME program. cataract surgery Experienced LENSAR surgeons will have you rethinking what you know about femtosecond . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the cataract surgery Experienced LENSAR surgeons will have you rethinking what you know about femtosecond . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the Experienced LENSAR surgeons will have you rethinking what you know about femtosecond . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the Experienced LENSAR surgeons will have you rethinking what you know about femtosecond . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the Experienced LENSAR surgeons will have you rethinking what you know about femtosecond LENSAR Laser System and why LENSAR stands alone among all femtosecond cataract lasers. cataract surgery LENSAR Laser System and why LENSAR stands alone among all femtosecond cataract lasers. cataract surgery LENSAR Laser System and why LENSAR stands alone among all femtosecond cataract lasers. . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the LENSAR Laser System and why LENSAR stands alone among all femtosecond cataract lasers. . Hear from the following experts about the advanced technology of the LENSAR Laser System and why LENSAR stands alone among all femtosecond cataract lasers. Review continued from page 102 88-107 Cornea_EW March 2014-DL2_Layout 1 3/6/14 3:47 PM Page 104