WAILEA, Hawaii – A home monitoring device increased the chances of identifying choroidal neovascularization early and preserving vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration, according to a study presented here.Neil M. Bressler, MD, discussed results of the AREDS2 Home Study at Retina 2015. Bressler substituted for Susan B. Bressler, MD, who was unable to attend.
Author: Healio ophthalmology
ICG angiography clinically useful as ancillary test
WAILEA, Hawaii – Indocyanine green angiography as an ancillary retina test is relevant in 2015 as a limited part of multimodal imaging, a presenter said.“What we’ve learned from OCT is that our clinical impression is sometimes wrong, and having ancillary tests like angiography or OCT or fundus autofluorescence can confirm what we believe to be true is very helpful. They can rule out mimicking conditions and also give us a list of therapeutic options we can offer the patient,”Jay S. Duker, MD,said at Retina 2015. “What we’re really talking about (Read more...)
VIDEO: OJO introduces AREDS formulation drink in powder form
WAILEA, Hawaii —At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Jodi Luchs, MD, discusses the launch of a new dissolvable formulation of OJO, which includes the AREDS supplement formulation.
VIDEO: Healthy tear film essential for excellent refractive surgery outcomes
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Cynthia A. Matossian, MD, discusses the importance of a healthy tear film to get the best refractive outcomes in refractive cataract surgery.
VIDEO: Pearls for limiting dysphotopsias from multifocal IOLs
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Jack T. Holladay, MD, MSEE, discusses strategies for minimizing multifocal IOL dysphotopsias.
VIDEO: Pearls for treating complicated pterygium surgery
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, John A. Hovanesian, MD, discusses his preferred techniques for performing complex pterygium surgery.
VIDEO: Decentered multifocal IOLs must be addressed
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Uday Devgan, MD, gives pearls for treating decentered multifocal IOLs.
Genetic testing may be helpful in diagnosing glaucoma
WAILEA, Hawaii — Genetic testing can be useful in detecting glaucoma depending on the age of the patient at diagnosis, a speaker said here.“Why is family history important? Believe it or not, about 50% of glaucoma cases have family members with glaucoma. Patients with primary affected family members are more likely to have severe disease, to become blind and to benefit from gene testing for mutations in glaucoma genes,” Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD, said at the Hawaiian Eye 2015 meeting.
Vision gains, retinopathy level sustained in RIDE/RISE extension study
WAILEA, Hawaii – Vision gains achieved at the conclusion of the RIDE/RISE studies were maintained in patients with diabetic macular edema who were enrolled in a 2-year open-label extension study, Michael S. Ip, MD, told colleagues at Retina 2015. Improvements in retinopathy level were also sustained.After 3 years in RIDE/RISE, 500 participants entered an open-label extension in which Lucentis 0.5 mg (ranibizumab, Genentech) was given as needed in all three treatment arms according to re-treatment criteria. Mean follow-up time was 14.1 months, less than the anticipated 24 months due to (Read more...)
OCT, visual field measurements useful for tracking glaucoma progression
WAILEA, Hawaii – Measuring visual field by optical coherence tomography can be useful in tracking glaucoma progression, according to a speaker here.“We now know that we can detect glaucoma earlier than we ever could before. What we are detecting structurally by OCT is really glaucoma,” Joel S. Schuman, MD, FACS, said at the Hawaiian Eye 2015 meeting.
Controlled blood pressure, A1c modify diabetic retinopathy progression
WAILEA, Hawaii – Retina specialists can help shape patient behavior that can modify the progression of diabetic retinopathy, a speaker said at Retina 2015.“As retina specialists, we have a responsibility to change behavior, not only because [diabetic retinopathy] is the number one cause of blindness in working age adults, but more importantly because diabetic patients fear blindness,” Allen S. Ho, MD, said.Consequently, retina specialists have more opportunity to influence their patients’ behavior because they see diabetic patients more often than they see their primary care doctor.Controlling hemoglobin A1c levels and (Read more...)
Superiority of femtosecond vs. manual methods not yet proven
WAILEA, Hawaii – Cataract surgeons should carefully weigh the pluses and minuses of traditional and femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery techniques, and adjust patient expectations accordingly, a speaker said here.Addressing colleagues at Hawaiian Eye 2015, Kendall E. Donaldson, MD, MS, compared traditional cataract surgery to methods performed with four femtosecond lasers: Catalys (Abbott Medical Optics), LenSx (Alcon), Victus (Bausch + Lomb) and LensAR.
Speaker: Individualized care for patients with AMD best for results
WAILEA, Hawaii – The most significant lesson learned from the HARBOR study is that individualization of patient care achieves best results when it comes to the treatment of age-related macular degeneration, a presenter said here.“Simply treating all patients the same is not good medicine,” Pravin U. Dugel, MD,said at Retina 2015.
Minimal VA loss, leakage associated with ‘early’ neovascular AMD
WAILEA, Hawaii – Early choroidal neovascularization should be identified when small and extrafoveal, and should be associated with minimum visual acuity loss and other characteristics not previously thought of in early detection, Neil M. Bressler, MD, told colleagues at Retina 2015.“Many people’s concept of early is what we would call late,” Bressler said. For example, visual acuity loss of 20/80 or 20/100 would be a late indicator of CNV.
Experts explore protocols for switching anti-VEGFs
WAILEA, Hawaii – There is little evidence published to help guide clinicians in making the decision to switch from one anti-VEGF therapy to another. Panelists at a round table that focused on the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration addressed that topic at Retina 2015.“I look at the glide path to dryness,” Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, PhD,said. “I anticipate it’s going to look better with each sequential monthly injection. You can make the argument that there are those ‘late gainers’ [of improvement], but most patients improve with those first few (Read more...)
Laser vision enhancement strategy may improve refractive outcomes
WAILEA, Hawaii — Laser vision enhancement may enhance refractive outcomes in the premium IOL patient, according to a speaker here.“There is no doubt that if we are going to continue to do these premium IOLs and we are going to try to get within 0.5 D of target, then we are going to have an enhancement strategy,” Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, said at the Hawaiian Eye 2015 meeting.
VIDEO: New pointofcare tests help improve ocular surface prior to surgery
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Alice Epitropoulos, MD, discusses new point of care tests that help surgeons assess and improve the ocular surface prior to cataract surgery.
VIDEO: New widefield imaging device adds new layers to improve imaging
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Retina 2015, Andrew Moshfeghi, MD, discusses the California widefield imaging device in development by Optos and the impact it will have in diagnosing and managing retinal disease.
VIDEO: Perform topography prior to cataract surgery to catch corneal abnormalities
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, William B. Trattler, MD, recommends performing corneal topography prior to cataract surgery to avoid surgical surprises due to previously undetected corneal abnormalities.
VIDEO: In-office allergy test latest point-of-care diagnostic for ophthalmology practice
WAILEA, Hawaii – At Hawaiian Eye 2015, Jodi Luchs, MD, discusses a new in-office allergy test that provides ophthalmology practices a new point-of-care diagnostic to improve patient care, along with other diagnostic tests in the pipeline.