EUROPEAN OPHTHALMIC REVIEW – VOLUME 11 – ISSUE 1 – SUMMER 2017

Welcome to the latest edition of European Ophthalmic Review, covering a variety of topics from all areas of ophthalmology. This edition features four articles within my specialty of retinal disease and imaging. Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is the leading cause of vision loss in people of working age and recent advances in intravitreal pharmacotherapy have […]

Good vision requires maintenance of the transparency and proper refractive shape of the cornea. Any surface structure irregularities can lead to wavefront aberrations and scattering errors. Light scattering in the human cornea causes a reduction of visual quality. In this interview, Leopoldo Spadea of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, discusses recent advances in refractive surgery, […]

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of visual impairment worldwide. Traditionally, treatment of glaucoma has involved pharmacologic and laser treatment, until the disease progresses to a stage that warrants the need for trabeculectomy. In recent years, microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) procedures have emerged, creating new options for those who do not meet the criteria […]

Many important eye diseases manifest themselves in the retina, one of the most prevalent of these is diabetic macular oedema. Retinal imaging and image analysis have developed rapidly over the past 10 years, and image analysis is starting to play an important role in the care of patients with retinal diseases. In advance of this […]

With increasing patient expectations and cataract surgery being regarded as a refractive procedure, multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) are one of the most effective ways of achieving a good visual acuity at distance, intermediate and near. However, precise biometry and astigmatism correction must be considered in order to achieve spectacle independence. It is well documented that […]

Accuracy in intraocular lens (IOL) calculations and postoperative outcomes has taken on another level with the availability of toric IOLs. The ability to correct corneal astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery reduces the need for spectacles postoperatively making the necessity to calculate the optimal power of the IOL ever more important. Calculating an accurate […]

Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) is the first laser-based technique that aimed to change the refractive power of the cornea. The principle of excimer laser ablation of the cornea is based on controlled emission of 193 nm pulses generated from excited dimers of argon fluoride (ArF) gases. When such a gas is put under electrical stimulation and […]

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was first used to treat brain pathologies, such as Parkinson’s disease In the 1940s.1 HIFU was later used in the 1990s in ophthalmological practice to treat intraocular pressure (IOP), traumatic capsular tears, glaucoma, retinal detachment and vitreous haemorrhage.2–7 HIFU has been used to treat both benign and malignant lesions of various […]

The major risk factor for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is raised intraocular pressure (IOP), which is a result of increased resistance to aqueous humour outflow, thought to occur predominantly at the level of the trabecular meshwork (TM) and Schlemm’s canal. Traditional glaucoma surgery has largely attempted to create alternative pathways for aqueous humour outflow […]

Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is the leading cause of acquired visual loss in the working age population.1 There are estimated to be 21 million people with DMO globally,2 with numbers expected to rise as diabetes becomes more common and life expectancy improves.3 The landscape for DMO treatment has changed significantly over the past decade. Macular […]

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited retinal dystrophy characterised with the progressive loss of photoreceptors.1,2 Night blindness together with the peripheral visual field loss is the most prominent clinical feature.1,2 Central vision is relatively spared up to the later stages of the disease process.3 However, when macular complications such as macular oedema arise, central vision […]

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) is a very useful non-invasive imaging method which is used in the diagnosis and follow-up of various retinal and choroidal diseases involving macular region.1–3 In 2014, at International Nomenclature OCT (INOCT) Panel, Staurenghi et al.4 proposed a nomenclature system for normal anatomic landmarks in SD-OCT and it has been […]

Corneal neovascularisation is defined as extension of blood vessels into the avascular stroma. The most common diseases associated with corneal neovascularisation include infectious keratitis, stromal ulceration, inflammatory disorders, alkali burns, contact lens-related hypoxia, corneal graft rejection and limbal stem cell deficiency.1 Riboflavin/ultraviolet A (UVA) crosslinking (CXL) is a technique that was introduced several years ago […]