EUROPEAN OPHTHALMIC REVIEW – VOLUME 1 – SUMMER 2007

Ophthalmology is extremely well represented all over the world. However, in spite of dramatic technical improvements, blindness is still a major problem for millions of people. On the one hand, the inhabitants of many countries do not have the opportunity to have their sight cared for or restored; there are even several small countries with […]

Successful Screening Programme for Diabetic Retinopathy to Expand A UK screening programme for diabetes patients has been so successful that it is set to expand to cover a larger area. The Nottingham Diabetic Retinopathy Service offers 1,900 screening appointments per month for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy, which can cause blindness if left untreated.

In recent years, our knowledge of risk factors relating to open-angle glaucoma (OAG) has improved substantially. A number of studies have evaluated the cross-sectional association betwen risk factors and OAG, whereas only a few have investigated the risk factors for glaucoma development.1 Prospective data provide better evidence on which to base inferences on causation because […]

An Increasing Global Concern

Glaucoma is a chronic progressive disease that, left untreated, can lead to blindness. Glaucoma represents a range of conditions in which the flow of aqueous humour in the eye is blocked, causing an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP). An impaired blood flow to the optic disc may also cause glaucoma, even without an abnormally high […]

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide and is the second most frequent cause of non-accidental blindness in industrialised countries.1–8,13,14 In glaucoma, the optic nerve is progressively damaged, causing defects in the visual field, usually asymptomatic until the central vision is affected.10 Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), the most common form of glaucoma observed […]

How to Define Clusters of Test Locations

It is 16 years since David Huang and colleagues in the James Fujimoto laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed optical coherence tomography (OCT).1 Following the introduction of Zeiss Stratus Optical Coherence Tomography (third-generation OCT or OCT 3) by Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc., it became a ‘gold standard’ for ocular examination of macular diseases. […]

Macular oedema (MO) is an established complication of intraocular surgery and is one of the leading causes of poor post-operative visual acuity after keratoplasty.1–7 MO is a localised expansion of the retinal intracellular and/or extracellular space in the macular area. This tendency towards the macular region is probably associated with the loose binding of innerconnecting […]

Over the last 40 years, the natural trend of cataract surgery has been towards minimising surgical trauma, improving outcomes and faster recovery for the patient. This trend can be tracked by the progressive decrease in the incision size used for cataract surgery, which began with small-incision cataract surgery (incisions of less than 4mm) and was […]

Broad-spectrum antibacterials such as the ophthalmic fluoroquinolones are powerful weapons for treating and preventing potentially sightthreatening infections – but only if prescribed rationally. In just a few years, some common ocular pathogens have become less susceptible to once standard therapies. Studies have shown that the prevalence of antibiotic resistance can vary widely by region and […]

Endophthalmitis is defined by an intraocular inflammation, due mainly to infection. Peri-ocular skin flora from the patient plays a significant role incausing the intraocular infection, and Staphylococcus epidermidis accounts for 81.9% of all cases of endophthalmitis.1

Roughly 250 years after Tadini1 proposed the use of a high-diopter lens implanted into the eye to remedy aphakia, his ideas have been realised imany variations. Intraocular lenses (IOLs), first implanted by Ridley2 in 1949, have become indispensable in the treatment of cataract or very high myopia. Today’s surgeons have myriad lenses to choose from: […]

Standard monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) cannot be voluntarily brought into focus; while patients can see perfectly in the distance, they must wear glasses to read. The ‘holy grail’ of IOL development is an IOL that can both restore sight and allow the patient to focus without glasses: an accommodating intraocular lens (AIOL). The AkkoLens AIOL […]

In physics, energy transfer per unit of time equals power, or the amount of work done. The use of fluid as a tool to carry out work is known as hydraulics. In hydraulics, the use of the kinetic energy of a moving fluid is known as hydrodynamics, and the use of the static pressure of […]

Coping with administration as well as medical matters has never been an easy juggling act for many hospital doctors, particularly in state-run healthcare systems where there is not a lot of spare cash for administrative staff. Clinical information systems aim to ease some of that burden by organising the workloads of medical practitioners and lifting […]

Corneal refractive surgery is a safe mode of vision correction, but a variety of complications have been described in the literature.1 Many of these complications do not compromise the integrity of the cornea, but can cause serious visual distortions, some of which cannot be re-treated with surgery or compensated with spectacles. Complaints of poor night […]

Fast, powerful, precise and safe, the SCHWIND AMARIS represents an important advance in laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). It combines a high ablation speed with a turbo eye tracker for monitoring pupil and limbus tracking, rotational balance and advanced cyclotorsion control. These factors ensure the perfect balance between extremely high speed and accuracy. With its […]

Femtosecond lasers (fs-lasers) have developed rapidly, and several approved laser systems are on the market. The spectrum of applications has also expanded considerably. In corneal surgery, the precise intrastromal use of the fs-laser has opened numerous new applications and led to totally new surgical standards. The fs-laser is an infrared laser that functions with much […]

Despite major clinical and therapeutic achievements in ophthalmology, the number of people suffering from serious visual impairment is growing. This paradox reflects the fact that we have yet to find ways of stemming and repairing the damage from diseases that affect the retina such as inherited retinal degenerations (IRD) and age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Visual […]

The leading cause of legal blindness in patients over the age of 60 years in developed nations is age-related macular degeneration (AMD).1,2 In the US, the number of people affected by AMD is predicted to increase by over 50% by the year 2020, and will account for roughly one-sixth of the population.3 AMD is broadly […]

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in people over 65 years of age in developed countries.1 Its pathogenesis is multifactorial, involving a complex interaction of metabolic, functional, genetic and environmental factors, and remains largely unclear. For a long time age and smoking were the only identified factors that definitely increased […]

Neovascular or wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is by far the leading cause of irreversible sight loss in western countries among people who are 50 years of age and older.1 Neovascularisation in this disease sprouts from the choriocapillaries into the subretinal space, and is known as choroidal neovascularisation (CNV). CNV is the underlying cause of […]

Triamcinolone acetonide is an intermediate-acting, relatively powerful steroid (see Table 1). Like all steroids, it dampens both the cell-mediated and the humoral component of inflammatory reactions. Clinically, this translates to reduced vessel permeability, justifying the use of this drug in most cases of macular oedema. It has also been shown to block the breakdown of […]

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the main cause of blindness in industrialised countries in patients aged between 20 and 64 years, and is the cause of 10% of new blindness cases every year.1 Tight control of systemic factors, photocoagulation and vitrectomy are the main strategies against the DR; however, recently several new treatments have been developed. […]

Diabetic retinopathy remains the major cause of blindness in working-age adults in developed nations. Diabetic retinal lesions are still reversible at the initial stage of mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, opening real opportunities for effective intervention. Four main alterations characterise the early stages of diabetic retinopathy: • microaneurysms/haemorrhages; • alteration of the blood–retinal barrier (BRB); • […]

Reports of keratitis after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), as well as after laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK) or photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), have become increasingly common in recent years, although they are still rare. Keratitis is classified as being of infectious or non infectious aetiology. Non-infectious keratitis – classified as diffuse lamellar keratitis (DLK) and staphylococcal […]

Today, uveitis includes all types of intraocular inflammation. With an incidence of approximately 50/100,000 people and a prevalence of 100/100,000,1 uveitis remains one of the leading blinding disorders. All age groups can be affected.

The term uveitis encompasses a large number of conditions, infectious or not, that can produce intraocular inflammation. The incidence of uveitis is probably greater than previously suspected.1 The anterior form is by far the most common, but the posterior form is the one that may lead to significant visual impairment, mostly as a consequence of […]

Standard monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) cannot be voluntarily brought into focus; while patients can see perfectly in the distance, they must wear glasses to read. The ‘holy grail’ of IOL development is an IOL that can both restore sight and allow the patient to focus without glasses: an accommodating intraocular lens (AIOL). The AkkoLens AIOL […]

Founded in 1976, Croma-Pharma has become a specialist in the field of research, development and production of viscoelastic fluids as well as the sale of high-quality ophthalmic products. Right from the start, Croma- Pharma established itself as a strong and reliable partner for both ophthalmologists and patients.

The focus of the application of information technology (IT) into healthcare has long been on systems such as patient administration systems (PAS), hospital information systems (HIS), laboratory information systems (LIS) etc., with disease specific systems offering in-depth clinical functionality being rather the poorer cousin when it has come to funding arrangements. While the larger suppliers […]

German manufacturer Imedos, the pioneer of Retinal Vessel Analysis, is built on more than 20 years of research in this area. The company created new systems for the examination of micro-vascular vessels. This offers doctors new possibilities in the field of vascular eye diseases and in the assessment of micro-vascular risk factors and indicators of […]

The focus of the application of information technology (IT) into healthcare has long been on systems such as patient administration systems (PAS), hospital information systems (HIS), laboratory information systems (LIS) etc., with disease specific systems offering in-depth clinical functionality being rather the poorer cousin when it has come to funding arrangements. While the larger suppliers […]