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EW SHOW DAILY
ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress, New Orleans 2016
by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Writer
Hot topics in cornea the focus of Sunday symposium
E
xpect to see more dry eye
diagnostic devices now and
in the near future, but con-
sider that they need more
data and validation studies,
said Penny Asbell, MD, New York,
during the Sunday symposium
"Trending Now: What's Hot,"
sponsored by the Cornea Society.
From this meeting's Exhibit
Hall, it's evident that many compa-
nies are aiming to meet the need for
additional dry eye diagnostic tests,
as long-used tests have issues with
sensitivity and reproducibility, Dr.
Asbell said. Clinicians want min-
imally invasive tests with objec-
tive metrics, she added. Dr. Asbell
reviewed some of the newer tests on
the market, including tear osmolar-
ity, tests for inflammation, and de-
vices such as the Keratograph from
Oculus (Arlington, Washington) that
measure several dry eye parameters
including tear breakup time and tear
meniscus height.
Another growing area in dry eye
is in-office treatment, which can in-
clude punctal plugs (some of which
may be medicated in the future),
lid treatments, intraductal probing
for meibomian gland dysfunction,
intense pulse light treatment, and
the use of amniotic membrane. In
the pipeline are several promising
treatments, including a device that
stimulates the nerves to produce
more tears, Dr. Asbell said.
Yet physicians need to keep
in mind that no diagnostic test or
in-office treatment is a 1-size-fits-all
answer for patients. "The bottom
line is it's hard to determine efficacy
of devices for dry eye disease," she
said.
Infectious keratitis treatment
is another hot topic within cornea,
and Jennifer Rose-Nussbaumer,
MD, San Francisco, shared some
treatment trends identified via a
Cornea Society survey. The sur-
vey found that 82% of U.S.-based
specialists will treat keratitis with
fortified antibiotics, but internation-
al specialists were only half as likely
to do so. "The difference is likely
due to the U.S. concern over resis-
tant bacteria," Dr. Rose-Nussbaumer
said. In addition to the increase in
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus infection, there seems to be a
growing resistance to other bacteria
as well, she reported.
The most common treatment
for fungal keratitis appears to be
natamycin; fungal keratitis is an
even bigger concern outside of the
U.S. and can make up more than
50% of corneal ulcers, Dr. Rose-
Nussbaumer said. Clinicians are
awaiting the results of the Mycotic
Ulcer Treatment Trial (MUTT) II
trial, which is a follow-up to MUTT
I's comparison of voriconazole or
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