EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/407647
EW MEETING REPORTER 70 challenge is providing access to medical care for retinoblastoma in low-income regions worldwide. Editors' note: Dr. Grossniklaus has financial interests with Alcon, Aura Biosciences (Cambridge, Mass.), Clearside Biomedical (Alpharetta, Ga.), the National Cancer Institute (Rockville, Md.), and Research to Prevent Blindness (New York). Paper looks at number of patients undergoing cataract surgery Mats Lundstrom, MD, PhD, Karlskrona, Sweden, discussed the topic "Are We Operating On Too Many Patients for Cataract? A Critical Analysis of Indications for Cataract Surgery Using Data on 7,300 Cataract Extractions." The aim of the study was to discuss indications for cataract surgery via database study of prospectively col- lected data on consecutive cataract surgery cases. In this study, data on 7,303 eyes operated on for cataracts during March 2012 and March 2013 and reported to the Swedish Nation- al Cataract Register was used. Dr. Lundstrom said that if it is accepted that these patients serve as representatives for the whole year when weighing the benefits ver- sus the risks of surgery, there were approximately 900 first eye surgeries and approximately 2,500 second eye surgeries in 2013, with 30% risk of not perceiving better visual function and 9% risk of worse visual out- comes after surgery. There are plans to follow up with 2014 data and to start the discussion for indications for surgery. Editors' note: Dr. Lundstrom has no financial interests related to his comments. Sen. Rand Paul gives Parker Heath Lecture Sen. Rand Paul, MD (R-KY), deliv- ered this year's Parker Heath Lecture, giving his views on healthcare. He specifically addressed the Affordable Care Act and present and future prospects for ophthalmology. Earlier this year, Sen. Paul spoke in Boston at the ASCRS Government Relations Session during the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress and re- cently traveled to Guatemala with a number of ophthalmologists. He shared some of his experiences from the trip and working with patients in Guatemala. "I want to examine the health- care system and find ideas for how to make healthcare less expensive and more accessible," he said. Al- though the debate over Obamacare might seem to be about healthcare, it is really a debate about economics, Sen. Paul said. However, only demo- cratic capitalism can determine the true price of any good. "There is no correct price for cataract surgery." If you set the price of cataract surgery too low, the demand will be infinite, and there will be shortages of cataract surgeons, he said. Sen. Paul addressed the sustain- able growth rate (SGR), which he said is simply the government fixing prices. "It's price fixing, and it mess- es up the distribution of goods," he said. It has been temporality suspended a number of times, but he called for a more permanent fix. "Let's abolish it once and for all." "As physicians, we think of healthcare as a medical problem," he said. "Only when we begin to understand that the most vexing medical problems are really econom- ic problems will we be closer to a cure." At the conclusion of his talk, Sen. Paul was given the 2014 Parker Heath Lecture Plaque. Editors' note: Sen. Paul has no finan- cial interests related to his comments. Journalist Bob Woodruff discusses his experience with traumatic brain injury In the special session "Visual Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury: Lessons Learned," broadcast journalist Bob Woodruff recounted his experience of being injured by a roadside bomb while on assignment for ABC News in Iraq in 2006. Traumatic brain injury has become a focus of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration in recent years as more U.S. troops suffer severe blast injuries in combat. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have had an especially profound impact on American troops—blasts from explo- sive weaponry have accounted for approximately 75% of major injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Glenn C. Cockerham, MD, Palo Alto, Ca- lif. Explosive blasts can cause pene- trating brain injuries as well as open and closed globe injuries, he said. Blasts can also produce profound afferent and efferent visual defects. Blast victims often suffer from reduced retinal sensitivity, visual field loss, reduced November 2014 VideoEd.EyeWorld.org Reporting from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2014 annual meeting, Chicago Watch Richard A. Lewis, MD, discuss common pitfalls for patients on glaucoma therapy and what the next generation of implantable drug delivery systems may provide to your glaucoma patients on VideoEd.EyeWorld.org. Supported by