Eyeworld Daily News

6 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | APRIL 24, 2022 ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING DAILY NEWS complications, and if they undergo ERM surgery, they will be more likely to develop a worsened cataract in the next few years. In her experience, patients are more than happy to have a "two-in-one" surgery. A bonus is to be able to get rid of the floaters that often worsen after cataract surgery, she said. Dr. Weng also pointed out that another pushback is vitrectomy is not a riskless surgery and can cause complications such as retinal tear/de- tachment, endophthalmitis, or higher risk of CME. However, Dr. Weng coun- tered with her second justification for combined surgery. Reason 2: Modern-day vitrectomy is extremely safe. mentioned the approval of Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl, Spark Therapeutics) by the FDA, which is a new gene therapy to treat children and adult patients with an inherited form of vision loss that may result in blindness. Dr. Do also spoke about treatment for geographic atrophy, specifically mentioning pegcetacoplan. Finally, he highlighted Notal Vision's first-of-its-kind artificial intel- ligence-enabled digital diagnostic for patients with neovascular retina dis- eases, using the patient-operated home optical coherence tomography (OCT) device. This would be helpful because patients would not have to come into the office. Also during the symposium, a discussion focused on whether to do combined surgery for epiretinal membrane (ERM) and cataract or if a sequential surgery is better. Christina Weng, MD, presented that combined surgery for ERM/cataract is the way to go, offering three reasons why. She began by stressing that some people may say if the cataract or ERM is minimal, the patient may not need both surgeries and can achieve good vision just by addressing one. Howev- er, Dr. Weng presented the following reasons. Reason 1: Patients are happy to have a "two-in-one" surgery and avoid an outcome that falls short of their expectations. Why risk a suboptimal outcome in your patient? She added that if patients undergo only cataract sur- gery, they may still have a variety of A Saturday morning symposium focused on retina topics that were specifically curated for the anterior segment surgeon. Brian Do, MD, shared the latest in retina, discussing five "things to know": 1. Increasingly durable therapeutics in retinal vascular disease 2. Utilization of the suprachoroidal space in vitreoretinal disease 3. Treatment of inherited retinal diseases 4. Treatment of advanced dry age- related macular degeneration (geographic atrophy) 5. Home OCT Relating to the progress in treat- ment durability for retinal vascular disease, he mentioned faricimab, which was recently FDA approved for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. He also mentioned a port delivery system (PDS) with ranibizumab, which was recently approved by the FDA for treatment of neovascular AMD in adults who have previously responded to two or more anti-VEGF injections. When discussing utilization of the suprachoroidal space, Dr. Do said this helps to keep therapeutics compart- mentalized. It allows for decreased concentrations in the anterior cham- ber and vitreous and may be ideal for targeted therapy to the retina/choroid. He mentioned Xipere (triamcinolone, Bausch + Lomb) and added that there are some other options in the pipeline. Gene therapy for inherited retinal disease is another evolving space. He PUBLISHER Steve Speares MANAGING DIRECTOR Stacy Jablonski EDITORIAL CO-DIRECTORS Ellen Stodola Liz Hillman GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Susan Steury Katherine Beutner PRODUCTION MANAGER Cathy Stern SALES, SPONSORSHIPS, AND CORPORATE PROGRAMS Jessica Donohoe Joe Dooley Cathy Stern Retina topics for anterior segment surgeons highlighted in symposium continued on page 8 Dr. Do discusses new advancements that doctors should know about.

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