Eyeworld Daily News

SUPPLEMENT TO EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS, APRIL 23, 2022 | 5 Supported by Alcon SMARTCataract: The next evolution in connectivity and planning SMARTCataract application Source: Alcon A s ophthalmology moves further into digitization, surgeons have the opportunity to evolve their practices and processes with new technologies that can help drive outcomes for patients. One important area of advancement that can be rife with inefficiencies and has the potential for error is surgical planning, said John Davidson, MD. "As surgeons, our plans need to be flawless to deliver on patient demand for exceptional, unaided vision after cataract surgery," Dr. Davidson said, calling patient satisfaction of paramount importance. "Without connectivity to a digital platform for surgical planning, errors, especially transcription errors, will occur given enough time." Before a digital ophthalmology platform became available, Dr. Davidson said he "played goalie to all the poten- tial errors that occur in the long chain of events that is the refractive cataract planning process." Potential sources for error included paper reports from various devices, several online calculators, and handwritten orders for selected lenses usually faxed to surgery centers. For Dr. Davidson, the SMARTCataract application (Alcon) changed the game. "I have been using SMARTCataract with my patients for 12 months and I am passion- ate about the power of this tool in my practice," Dr. Davidson said. "The nuances of my personal preferences, combined with the ability to remote plan—without being tethered to equipment or print- outs—have made the mathematics of planning a refractive cataract/lens surgery a seamless process." Alcon announced SMARTCataract, the first application under its SMART Solutions platform, in late 2021. The application connects data systems, like electronic health records and most di- agnostic devices in the clinic, to surgical equipment in the OR. Technologies like the ARGOS ® Biometer are connected to surgical equipment such as the LenSx ® Femto- second Laser and the LUXOR REVALIA ® Microscope through the SMARTCataract cloud-based planning tool. Additional connectivity to the ORA SYSTEM ® is expected to be commercially available by the 2022 ASCRS Annual Meeting, followed by the NGENUITY ® 3D Visualization System in 2023. The SMART Solutions platform, which encompasses SMARTCataract, is designed to evaluate patient data and surgeon preferences automatically to make recommendations. It also reduces or eliminates the need for manual data entry. As a system, it allows for secure, remote access from multiple users. Dr. Davidson said he has benefit- ed from how the system autopopulates biometric data to the appropriate fields, manipulated by consistent, user-specified background algorithms. He said it auto- populates selected lenses and relevant patient data into the ORA SYSTEM ® , the VERION ® Image-Guided System, and the LenSx ® Femtosecond Laser, as well as enabling cloud-based image guid- ance throughout the procedure with the LenSx ® Femtosecond Laser and micro- scope, removing the possibility of tran- scription errors. "The shuffling of a lot of paper can be eliminated especially for surgeons who work out of multiple offices where timely access to paper charts can be a logistical challenge," Dr. Davidson said. The remote lens selection process, Dr. Davidson continued, is streamlined through SMARTCataract in one interface continued on page 7 Refer to page 8 for Important Product Information about the Alcon products described in this supplement. John Davidson, MD

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