2 minute read
Random thoughts
ESCRS NEWS
Thierry Amzallag, Béatrice Cochener-Lamard, Rudy M.M.A. Nuijts and Ruth Lapid-Gortzak
20/20 and beyond ESCRS President Rudy M.M.A. Nuijts reports
From 8-11 January 2020 the Annual Conference on Ocular Microsurgery was organised with the theme “Eilat 20/20 and beyond”. It was the 40th anniversary of the meeting and attended by a renowned international faculty. The meeting was organised by Ehud Assia and Guy Kleinmann and gave an update of the current innovations in various fields of ophthalmology.
The ESCRS was invited to organise an ESCRS Academy on Thursday. During that session I spoke on the ESCRS PREMED study and on the implementation of the results in 2020. It has now become clear that the strategy of a combined postoperative regimen of steroids and NSAID drops is more effective in CME reduction than either of these drops alone. Thierry Amzallag spoke on improving the results of EDOF IOLs and illustrated the various designs that are currently on the market. Gerd Auffarth discussed optical fundamentals of IOL correction and gave a basic overview of the working mechanism of the various multifocal and EDOF IOLs. Joaquim Murta reported on his research into the mechanisms of neuroadaptation in patients with multifocal IOLs using functional magnetic resonance imaging. It now has become clear that patients show increased activity of cortical areas involved in visual attention and cognitive control in the early postoperative period at three weeks that normalises at six months, pointing at neuroadaptation in our brain.
Béatrice Cochener-Lamard spoke on the new developments in Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy where DMEK appears to be the preferred endothelial keratoplasty technique. Studies are under way to show the benefit of new techniques like DSO (Descemet Stripping Only) on endothelial cell remodelling, with or without the combination of ROCK inhibitors. Selection and indication for DSO appears not to be straightforward. Regenerative medicine technology has also found its way into corneal transplantation but many aspects, including costeffectiveness, still need to be investigated.
The application of regenerative medicine in ophthalmology was also the topic of a presentation by Jorgé Alió, who spoke on advanced stem cell therapy for keratoconus. He showed that implanting autologous adipose-derived adult stem cells with or without sheets of decellularised donor human corneal stroma may be effective for the treatment of advanced keratoconus. In the international video competition ESCRS (Béatrice Cochener-Lamard, Ruth Lapid, Thierry Amzallag, Rudy Nuijts) competed against the teams of APACRS, ASCRS/International and Israel in four categories (lens subluxation, IOL complication, intraoperative challenge and free style) and our past president won her category by using all her French charm!
ESCRS Membership FREE 5 year membership for trainees
• Reduced Registration Fees for ESCRS Congresses • Subscription to Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery • Access to ESCRS Grants, Bursaries and Research Awards • ESCRS iLearn Online CME accredited interactive courses • ESCRS On Demand Online library of presentations from ESCRS Congresses • EUREQUO European Registry of Quality Outcomes for Cataract and Refractive Surgery • ECCTR European Cornea and Cell Transplantation Registry
