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EW MEETING REPORTER 68 July 2015 Reporting from the 6th World Glaucoma Congress, June 6–9, 2015, Hong Kong Reporting from the 6th World Glaucoma Congress Opening Ceremony kicks off meeting The World Glaucoma Association's (WGA) executive vice president, Robert D. Fechtner, MD, Roseland, N.J., opened the organization's bien- nial meeting at the Opening Cere- mony and President's Symposium. "It is my tremendous pleasure to welcome you to the 6th World Glau- coma Congress. We are delighted to be here in Hong Kong," he said. The WGA currently comprises 13 regional societies, 3 international societies, and 69 national societ- ies representing more than 11,000 individual members worldwide. He welcomed 3 new member societies since the last meeting, held in 2013 in Vancouver, Canada: the Child- hood Glaucoma Research Network, the Lebanon Glaucoma Society, and the Glaucoma Interest Group of the College of Ophthalmologists of Sri Lanka. Jeffrey Liebmann, MD, New York, WGA president, also gave opening remarks, welcoming attendees to the meeting. "It is my privilege on behalf of the Board of Governors and the General Assem- bly to welcome you to our biannual congress in Hong Kong," he said. Dr. Liebmann recognized the 3 cohosts of this year's congress: the Hong Kong Ophthalmology Society, the College of Ophthalmology of Hong Kong, and the Chinese Glau- coma Society. Several awards were bestowed to WGA members. Franz Grehn, MD, was given the Founder's Award for services to the organization and to its Africa initiative. Special Recogni- tion Awards were given to Dennis Lam, MD, and Carlo Traverso, MD, in recognition of their service on the Board of Governors; to Simon Bakker, MD, for his work with the association's publications; and to George Lambrou, MD, for contribu- tions to World Glaucoma Week. The keynote lecture was given by Lee Chack-fan, a professor at Hong Kong University, on "The Silk Road on Land and Sea—Historic Evolution and Future Prospects." The Silk Road is a 4,000-mile net- work of roads and paths that, from 100 BC to the 15th century, formed a critical commercial system linking the East and the West. The 2017 World Glaucoma Con- gress will be held from June 28–July 1, 2017 in Helsinki, Finland. Editors' note: The speakers have no financial interests related to their comments. Highlights from the American Glaucoma Society symposium Shan Lin, MD, San Francisco, moderated this symposium, which featured outstanding science from the 2015 American Glaucoma Soci- ety (AGS) meeting. His own research aims to identify risk factors for angle closure glaucoma. He conducted an anterior segment optical coherence tomography study and found that iris thickness in ambient light condi- tions predicted the angle narrowing seen in the light-to-dark transition. "A thinner iris under light conditions may possess better capa- bility to compress and shrink when transitioning to dark conditions," he explained. Alex Huang, MD, PhD, Pasade- na, Calif., noted that if the trabecu- lar meshwork is the site of aqueous outflow resistance, trabecular bypass procedures that shunt fluid into Schlemm's canal should overcome this—unless aqueous egress from Schlemm's canal is segmental and variable. His group utilized aqueous angiography to demonstrate—so far in animals and soon in humans —that aqueous outflow into the episcleral vascular system is both segmental and variably so. Arsham Sheybani, MD, St. Lou- is, shared the results of a study in which the XEN Gel Stent (AqueSys, Aliso Viejo, Calif.), which is ap- proved in Canada and Europe but not yet in the U.S., was implanted via an ab interno approach to shunt aqueous into the subconjunctival space, bypassing Schlemm's canal entirely. The device is made of a permanent gelatin material. In his cohort, patients with open angle glaucoma and mean baseline IOP of 24.4 mm Hg enjoyed large IOP reductions—the average IOP was 13.1 mm Hg at 2 years, with 65% of patients using no medications. The procedure may be less complicated than trabeculectomy with a safer profile and faster recovery, he said. Dr. Lin invited everyone to at- tend the 2016 AGS annual meeting, which will take place in Ft. Lauder- dale, Fla., March 3–6, 2016. Editor's note: Dr. Sheybani has finan- cial interests with AqueSys. The other physicians have no financial interests related to their comments. Highlights from the Canadian Glaucoma Society symposium Neeru Gupta, MD, PhD, Toronto, described the discovery of lymphat- ic outflow in the eye, which her group accomplished more than 5 years ago. In more recent work, her group has confirmed that aqueous does flow through these lymphatic channels, the rate of flow can be measured, and more importantly, that it can be pharmacologically manipulated. Ali Hafez, MD, Montreal, discussed the interplay between IOP, blood pressure, and cerebrospinal fluid pressure in glaucoma. These 3 parameters are correlated with one another, and in epidemiologic studies, all have been linked to the risk of developing glaucoma. The difference between blood pressure and IOP represents ocular perfusion pressure, which is essentially a pres- sure gradient across the capillaries

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