Eyeworld

13 EW NEWS & OPINION A SCRS•ASOA will offer an expanded Spanish- language program at the 2015 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress. For the first time, the meeting will be held jointly with La Asociación Latinoamericana de Cirujanos de Catarata, Córnea y Segmento Anterior/Latin American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ALACCSA-R/LASCRS). The joint meeting will be held from Friday, April 17 to Tuesday, April 21, in San Diego. The expanded Spanish-language programming will include courses and symposia developed in con- junction with ALACCSA-R/LASCRS. The joint meeting and the expanded Spanish-language programming reflect the international nature of ASCRS and its membership, 40% of whom are from outside the U.S. Complete 2015 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress information will be available soon at Annual- meeting.ascrs.org. "This is an exciting and powerful partnership that is sure to advance ophthalmology," said ASCRS President Richard A. Lewis, MD. "ASCRS continues to build international alliances as part of its effort to deliver quality eyecare around the world and here in the U.S." "Latin American ophthalmol- ogy has long been known for its innovative techniques and proce- dures," said William De La Peña, MD, chairman of the ALACCSA-R/ LASCRS Board of Directors. "We have worked hard to bring the best presenters from Latin America to this joint meeting. We're very excited about the program and this new partnership with ASCRS." ALACCSA-R/LASCRS was found- ed in 1991 as a nonprofit entity whose sole purpose is to expose ophthalmologists to the latest scientific and technological ad- vances in anterior segment surgery. ALACCSA-R/LASCRS is the only organization that represents all of Latin America in the subspecialty. Characterized by high scientific quality, internationally recognized faculty, and the attendance of thousands of ophthalmologists, ALACCSA-R/LASCRS offers several educational meetings year-round. See ALACCSA.com for more information about the society. EW Contact information Elliott: aelliott@ascrs.org In the journal . . . Laboratory science: venturi and peristaltic vacuum Judd M. Cahoon, BS, Isha Gupta, BS, Gareth Gardiner, BS, Dallas Shi, BS, Brian Zaugg, MD, Jeff H. Pettey, MD, William R. Barlow Jr., MD, Randall J. Olson, MD In this study, investigators set out to compare the efficacy of vacuums associated with venturi and peristaltic phacoemulsification systems. For the study, formalin- hardened porcine lenses were cut into cubes. Then investigators measured the time needed to remove these and the resulting chatter. A Signature machine (Abbott Medical Optics, Abbott Park, Ill.) that could switch from venturi to peristaltic modes was used. Investigators determined that at lower vacuum levels, there was increased efficiency and less chatter with the venturi-based vacuum. They concluded that lens material may clear faster with use of venturi-based vacuum, and chatter may also be reduced with this system. Laboratory science: off-time ultrasound duty cycle Jason D. Jensen, BS, Kevin R. Kirk, BS, Isha Gupta, BS, Cecinio Ronquillo Jr., PhD, M. Aabid Farukhi, BS, Brian C. Stagg, MD, Jeff H. Pettey, MD, Randall J. Olson, MD With micropulse ultrasound, what is the optimum off-time for the most efficient removal of lens fragments during phacoemulsification? That's what investigators here wanted to find out. Using the Signature ultrasound machine, set at an on-time of 7 milliseconds, they varied off-time from 2 to 20 milliseconds in 2 millisecond steps. They determined that with 2 to 6 mil- liseconds of off-time, there was a non-significant linear increase in efficiency. Meanwhile, with 6 to 20 milliseconds of off-time, there was a significant linear decrease in efficiency. The conclusion reached was that use of 6 to 7 milliseconds of off-time was as efficient as shorter periods. However, efficiency was decreased with longer off-times ranging from 8 to 20 milliseconds. Chat- ter was minimal regardless of the off-time. To help optimize efficiency with micropulse longitudinal ultrasound, investigators advised practitioners to use an off-time setting of 6 milliseconds. IOP during femtosecond laser pretreatment in glaucomatous eyes Erica Darian-Smith, MB BS, Allister R. Howie, MB BS, Robin G. Abell, MB BS, Nathan Kerr MB ChB, Penny L. Allen, PhD, Brendan J. Vote, FRANZCO, Tze'Yo Toh, FRANZCO Investigators in this prospective, non-randomized case series considered how glaucoma patients undergoing femtosecond laser pretreatment of cataracts fared in terms of IOP compared with those without glaucoma. Those with stable primary open-angle glaucoma who were slated to undergo femtosecond cataract pretreatment and their healthy counterparts also undergoing the pretreatment were included. For femtosecond docking a fluid-filled liquid op- tics interface system was used. Of the 143 eyes 30.1% had glaucoma. In those glaucomatous eyes the mean baseline IOP was 20.2 mm Hg versus 18.9 for the healthy counterparts. When IOP was measured with vacuum on in glaucoma- tous eyes the mean was 13.8 mm Hg compared with 11.1 mm Hg for the other group. When this was measured after treatment, for those with glaucoma the mean was 17.4 mm Hg versus 14.1 mm Hg for the others. Meanwhile, once vacuum was undocked this was measured at 9.9 mm Hg for glaucomatous eyes compared to 5.7 mm Hg for counterparts. The conclusion reached was that for those with glaucoma after femtosecond pretreatment the transient rise in IOP is greater than in non-glaucomatous cases, as is residual IOP after undocking vacuum. Investigators concluded that in the short term this is well tolerated, but they are uncertain of what the long-term implications may be for those with glaucoma. February 2015 Joint meeting to offer expanded Spanish- language programming by Abbie B. Elliott ASCRS•ASOA Communications Manager February 2015 ASCRS update

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