Eyeworld

103 EW REFRACTIVE September 2016 Reference 1. Willis JR, et al. The prevalence of myopic choroidal neovascularization in the United States: Analysis of the IRIS data registry and NHANES. Ophthalmology. 2016;123:1771–82. radar," and that they are understud- ied and underreported causes of visual impairment in the U.S. "Ophthalmologists should be aware that many younger people with high myopia who have symp- toms and signs of CNV may have mCNV and not necessarily CNV due to age-related macular degener- ation," he said. "They have to rec- ognize the clinical presentation of mCNV, which does not always pres- ent with visual symptoms and visual loss as dramatic as AMD does." Use of big data One reason that researchers are shining a spotlight on their findings is because of the pioneering use of "big data" to track ophthalmology trends. "Our research was exciting in that it showed that big data in ophthalmology could help us better understand the epidemiology of rare ophthalmic conditions in the U.S.," Dr. Willis said. "Large datasets such as the IRIS Registry give us incred- ible research capabilities that were not present before. Using such big data will help us more accurately understand the epidemiology of eye diseases and potentially improve public health outcomes." Although Pravin Dugel, MD, managing partner, Retinal Con- sultants of Arizona, Phoenix, and clinical professor, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, wasn't surprised by the research findings, he praised the study's use of big data and called it "the very tip of the iceberg" of how information from the registry can be used. "This will give us real-time information about how and why patients come in to see us," he said. Clinical trials may provide useful in- formation from large patient groups, but the setup can be artificial, Dr. Dugel noted. In contrast, data from the registry will show how practice trends are followed in the real world. He has a particular interest in how the data may show patterns in treat- ing AMD. "As resources continue to get strained, this kind of dataset will show us where the gaps are and where we need to put resources," he said. EW Editors' note: The physicians have no financial interests related to their comments. Contact information Dugel: pdugel@gmail.com Willis: willis.jeffrey@gene.com Wong: tien_yin_wong@nuhs.edu.sg www.malosa.com • Brand new Instruments, every time. • Zero cross-contamination risk. • Fixed procedure costs. Single-use instruments and procedure packs provide guaranteed patient safety at a lower cost. • Instruments & Procedure Packs. • Increased patient throughput. • Now available in the U.S.A. The specialists in single-use.

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