EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/76185
54 EW MEETING REPORTER July 2012 Reporting live from the 2012 APACRS annual meeting, Shanghai, China Highlights from coverage of the 2012 APACRS annual meeting T he 25th Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) meeting was held Thursday, May 31, to Sunday, June 3, attracting more than 1,500 ophthalmologists from 29 countries to Shanghai for the annual conference. Femto is star of Masterclasses This year's APACRS Masterclasses, held on the Thursday prior to the opening of the conference, offered a variety of educational opportunities for attendees, but femtosecond was the new star of the yearly classes. "Without a doubt, the flavor of the month (or year) is femto laser- assisted cataract surgery," said veteran Masterclass faculty member Ronald Yeoh, M.D., Singapore. "This new modality in cataract surgery has taken the world by storm since its introduction a year or so ago. We, therefore, felt that it was opportune to run the first Masterclass in femto laser cataract surgery in Asia in Shanghai. Indeed, the number of registrations for this class far exceeded any of the other Masterclasses." There were six Masterclasses offered this year: "Femtophaco Cataract Surgery"; "Posterior Segment Updates for Anterior Seg- ment Surgeons"; "Optimizing Out- comes in Toric IOL Implantation"; "Tips and Pearls for Successful Fem- tosecond LASIK Flap Creation with Different Femtosecond Platforms"; "The Ideal Phacotrabeculectomy"; and "ReLEx and SMILE." The purpose of the classes, Dr. Yeoh said, was to give experienced surgeons advanced instructions in the latest technologies. "The Masterclass program was Editors' note: This Meeting Reporter contains original reporting by the EyeWorld news team from the 2012 APACRS annual meeting, Shanghai. Meeting Reporter sponsored by Alcon. conceptualized as a series of high- level instructional courses run by recognized experts in the field," Dr. Yeoh said. "The topics covered are usually at a more advanced level than basic instructional courses." Yao Ke, M.D., China, share tips on the advantages of combined surgery of MICS phacotrabeculectomy Surgeons considering convert- ing to a femtosecond-phaco cataract platform attended the video-based session on the topic. The faculty, Soon Phaik Chee, M.D., Singapore, Michael Knorz, M.D., Mannheim, Germany, Vincent Lee, M.D., Hong Kong, and Dr. Yeoh, took turns sharing their experiences with the technology, as well as offering usage pearls and advice about new complications that may arise. They also discussed the costs and benefits of adopting the new platform into practice. In the corresponding vitreoreti- nal Masterclass, Chong Lye Ang, M.D., Singapore, Xiaorong Li, M.D., Tianjin, China, Mun Wai Lee, M.D., Beijing, China, Shu Yen Lee, M.D., Singapore, Sze Guan Ong, M.D., Singapore, and Ian Yeo, M.D., Singapore, gave anterior segment surgeons updates and tips on how to assess and manage cataract patients who also have retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and other retinal vascular disorders. Donald Tan, M.D., Singapore, discusses the all-in-one femtosecond laser refractive procedure Surgeons who want to get opti- mum outcomes when implanting toric IOLs attended a session with Dr. Yeoh, Haike Guo, M.D., Guangzhou, China, and Tetsuro Oshika, M.D., Tokyo, where the physicians discussed such topics as patient selection, marking the patient before surgery, and alignment of the steep meridian. In another femtosecond class, experts covered the basics of creat- ing a femtosecond LASIK flap with the IntraLase (Abbott Medical Optics, Santa Ana, Calif.) and VisuMax (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Jena, Germany) platforms. Attendees watched videos on possible compli- cations, including suction loss, uncooperative patients, flap tears, and more. The afternoon sessions focused on phacotrabeculectomy and the refractive lenticule extraction (ReLEx) femtosecond laser surgery procedures. In the first talk, an expert panel consisting of Ching Lin Ho, M.D., Singapore, Shamira Perera, M.D.,