guest editorial
The Time is Right for the New Ocular Circulation Society and Journal

Vascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed nations. In the year 2000, an estimated 22% of U.S. citizens suffered from at least one cardiovascular disease; for nearly 1 million of them, the disease was deadly. There is increasing importance being discovered not only of the eye as being a "window" to the rest of the body, but also of the effect of circulation on eye diseases such as glaucoma.

During the May 2003 ARVO meeting, a new society, ISOCO, the International Society of Ocular Circulation and Oximetry, was inaugurated. The purpose of the Society is to help patients by gaining a further understanding of the ocular circulation and oximetry in both health and disease in order to facilitate more effective treatments.

Group Will Meet During ARVO

A group of researchers from all over the world came together to establish the newest ophthalmologic subspecialty society.

Until now, these physicians and scientists had been scattered throughout the field of ophthalmology without a formal organization to bind them together.

At times, prominent work in the field had not been known to other researchers due to the diverse publication venue and lack of any central meeting coordination. Additionally, the time was ripe to set up a formal organization because of the increasing interest in the field, which has stemmed in part from recent improvements in hardware and software that allow researchers to more accurately, more reliably, and more reproducibly image the ocular circulation and analyze the data.

Last year at ARVO, Georg Michelson, M.D., organized a Special Interest Group on blood flow. It was an informal first step that helped lead to the Society's formation, and will serve as a model for future ISOCO meetings, which will occur annually during ARVO. The Society allows members (who were inaugurated at the May meeting) a forum to exchange ideas in person during its meetings as well as through its Internet site.

The Society has established an active online peer-reviewed journal entitled Ocular Circulation, found at http://www.ocularcirculation. com. Prof. Charles Riva at the Laboratoire d'Optique et de Biophysic, Institute de Recherche en Ophthalmologie in Scion, Switzerland, is serving as editor of the Journal. The assistant editors are Dr. Michelson at the University Erlangen-Nürnberg in Erlangen, Germany, and Prof. Leopold Schmetterer at the Universitätsklinik für Klinische Pharmakologie in Vienna, Austria.

The journal is accessible to the public and free. It not only presents video, but also includes some concomitant audio presentations and thus is truly a multimedia journal. It allows for expeditious dissemination of results, and provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of current vascular topics in ophthalmology using a balanced multidisciplinary perspective.

At the inaugural meeting, bylaws were ratified and officers were elected. I was elected President of the Society, Dr. Michelson was elected Vice-President, and Gilbert Feke, Ph.D., was elected Secretary-Treasurer.

How to Join

Those interested in becoming members of the Society should have a strong interest or be actively involved in research in ocular blood flow or oximetry, and are encouraged to contact Gilbert Feke, Ph.D. at feke@vision.eri.harvard.edu  and send a copy of their CV. The Society has no dues.

We believe the Society will provide new insight into the role of ocular circulation and disease, and ultimately lead to improved patient care.

Dr. Frenkel is a glaucoma specialist in private practice at the Eye Research Foundation, East Florida Eye Institute in Stuart, Fla. He is a voluntary assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine and the president of the newly created International Society of Ocular Circulation and Oximetry.