Eyeworld

Reporting from the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Congress 2016, March 24–27, Taipei, Taiwan EW MEETING REPORTER 176 April 2016 is controlled, that's usually when surgeons do phaco and MIGS, he said. The last topic that Dr. Barton discussed was tube implants. "There is pretty clear evidence that cata- ract surgery has no affect on tube implants," he said, adding that sur- geons can do cataract surgery after a tube implant and the pressure will still be controlled. Editors' note: Dr. Barton has finan- cial interests with Transcend Medical (Menlo Park, California) and Allergan (Dublin). Dr. Sharma has no related financial interests. Crosslinking in children During a session focusing on cross- linking, Beatrice Frueh, MD, Bern, Switzerland, discussed 5-year results of a study of crosslinking in children with keratoconus. The study initially looked at 53 eyes of 38 patients, and crosslinking was performed before age 18, with at least 1 year of fol- low-up. A standard epi-off Dresden protocol was used. Included in the study were those with a minimum follow-up of at least 5 years or pro- gression at earlier follow-up, which ultimately totaled 21 eyes of 17 pa- tients with 5 years of follow-up and 2 cases of progression. Ages of the children ranged from 4 to 17, with a mean age of 14.3. In the 21 eyes with 5 years of follow-up, Dr. Frueh said both topography and tomography were performed, and there were no cases of scarring or haze. BSCVA was un- changed in 13 patients, better in 7, and worse in 1. Dr. Frueh concluded that crosslinking is effective in stopping keratoconus progression in chil- dren and is as safe as in adults. In the 5 years after epi-off standard crosslinking, the corneas flattened and topographic indices remained unchanged or improved, she said. There was a constant corneal thinning, and Dr. Frueh said that the 2 cases of progression that were observed were possibly related to a very steep cornea preoperatively and accelerated crosslinking in Down syndrome.

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