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Thursday, April 16, 2015
EW SHOW DAILY
by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Staff Writer
V
incenzo Sarnicola, MD,
Grosseto, Italy, will moder-
ate the session "Keratoco-
nus, Other Ectasias, Deep
Anterior Lamellar Kerato-
plasty, and Other Lamellar Grafts."
"The World Cornea Congress
session on keratoconus and other
corneal ectasias will cover problems
about keratoconus diagnosis and
therapeutic indications," he said.
Charles McGhee, MD, PhD,
FRCS, Auckland, New Zealand, will
give the keynote address, "Treatment
Paradigms in Keratoconus." Subjects
to be discussed include keratoconus
terminology and differential diag-
nosis, contact and scleral lenses in
the management of keratoconus,
crosslinking for corneal ectasia, and
corneal implants for ectasia.
"[A good amount of time] will
be given to the surgical technique
help to make order on this matter,
even if clear boundaries are an
ambitious goal."
He hopes this session at the
World Cornea Congress will be able
to convey to the audience the need
to spread these new techniques
around the world so that healthcare
can be homogeneous.
The session will take place
tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in room
20ABC of the San Diego Convention
Center. EW
Editors' note: Dr. Sarnicola has no
related financial interests.
used to reconstruct a cornea irre-
vocably damaged in its shape: the
deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty
(DALK)," Dr. Sarnicola said. The
DALK technique is becoming the
gold standard to treat ectatic diseas-
es, he said.
"The reduction of intraoperative
and postoperative complications,
together with the highest long-term
graft survival, make DALK a safe
technique, able to guarantee a cor-
neal transplant that will likely last
for [a] lifetime," he said.
Several presentations will focus
on this topic, including one on the
evolution of the DALK standard
technique. In this presentation,
Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, Reggio
Emilia, Italy, will detail the evolu-
tion from the Anwar technique to
the cannula big bubble technique,
highlighting functional results and
long-term graft survival. The man-
agement of complications will be
discussed in another presentation,
as will new frontiers for DALK.
"The take-home message of
this session will be the awareness of
how the treatment of corneal ectatic
diseases has changed," Dr. Sarnicola
said. Until a few years ago, penetrat-
ing keratoplasty (PK) was the only
treatment available. "An early stage
keratoconus may today be arrested
in its development, thanks to the
use of crosslinking," he said. Ad-
ditionally, corneal rings are useful
devices to treat mild keratoconus,
and DALK is a safe keratoplasty tech-
nique, with comparable or better
results than PK.
"Keratoconus therapeutic indi-
cations have undefined and overlap-
ping boundaries," Dr. Sarnicola said.
"The quality of the speakers should
'Keratoconus, Other Ectasias, DALK,
and Other Lamellar Grafts'
Quick guide: Attractions
Balboa Park
1549 El Prado
619-239-0512
www.balboapark.org
Belmont Park
3146 Mission Blvd.
858-228-9283
www.belmontpark.com
Birch Aquarium
2300 Expedition Way
858-534-3474
aquarium.ucsd.edu
Reuben H. Fleet
Science Center
1875 El Prado
619-238-1233
www.rhfleet.org
San Diego
Museum of Art
1450 El Prado
619-232-7931
www.sdmart.org
Museum of
Photographic Arts
1649 El Prado
619-238-7559
www.mopa.org
San Diego
Museum of Man
1350 El Prado
619-239-2001
www.museumofman.
org
San Diego Air &
Space Museum
2001 Pan American
Plaza
619-234-8291
www.sandiegoairand-
space.org
San Diego Natural
History Museum
1788 El Prado
619-232-3821
www.sdnhm.org
USS Midway
Museum
910 North Harbor Dr.
619-544-9600
www.midway.org
