Spotlight ON TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUE

The Tecnis 1-Piece: A Next-Generation IOL

By Leslie Goldberg, Associate Editor

The Tecnis 1-Piece intraocular lens (Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., [AMO] Santa Ana, Calif.) has an innovative design and ease-of-use enhancements that combine with Tecnis IOL optics to reduce spherical aberration, improve functional vision and improve night driving simulator performance, says AMO.

Physician Feedback

"The one-piece design allows for controlled and safe delivery of the IOL into the capsular bag, reducing the risk of corneal, iris and capsular bag trauma from the IOL insertion," says Asim Piracha, M.D., of the John-Kenyon American Eye Institute Louisville, Ky. "Unique to the AMO 1-piece is the -0.27 μm of asphericity, the 360° square edge design and the patented hydophobic acrylic material. This material produces better quality of vision, reduced rates of posterior capsule opacification (PCO) and more predictable and controlled unfolding of the haptics. Consequently, more predictable and reproducible intraoperative and long-term postoperative results are achieved."

"The Tecnis 1-Piece has basically three important benefits," says Ralph Chu, M.D., founder and medical director of the Chu Vision Institute in Edina, Minn. "First, it takes the optimized optic surface and marries it with a one-piece design, making it easier to implant. The advanced third-generation hydrophobic acrylic material minimizes chromatic aberration and glistenings to provide patients with the best optical quality possible."

Thirdly, Dr. Chu says that as a surgeon, he is able to provide great vision for patients on a platform that centers very well inside the eye, is easy to implant and has minimal PCO. "It's all about improving patient visual outcomes. Not just Snellen acuity, but also quality of vision, like contrast sensitivity."

Additional Features

Dr. Chu says that the Tecnis 1-Piece is different than previous generations of the one-piece platform. "It has a 360° posterior-square edge, even along the optic-haptic junction. This used to be the Achilles heel of the one-piece lens because this is where lens cells could migrate along the posterior capsule and increase the chance of PCO," he says.

The Tecnis 1-Piece also has a trifix fixation system so the haptics are in a different plane than the optics. "This actually helps to stabilize the lens and helps it to center," says Dr. Chu.

A feature that is beneficial to the surgeon is the coating on the lens that prevents it from being sticky or tacky. "Previous generations of one-piece IOLs were kind of sticky, making it difficult to open inside the eye. Sometimes the haptics stuck to the optics," explains Dr. Chu.

"The 1-Piece uses AMO's patented tecnis aspheric optic, which corrects for -0.27 μm of spherical aberration, negating the average amount of positive spherical aberration (SA) in the human cornea. The benefit of reducing SA is to provide better quality of vision, especially in low contrast environments such as night driving," says Dr. Piracha.

The hydrophobic acrylic material blocks UV light and the lens' frosted edge is designed to minimize edge glare. In addition, as a member of the Reduced Spherical Aberration NTIOL subset, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the lens for reimbursement status, which provides an additional Medicare reimbursement of $50 per lens for ASCs.

Patient Feedback

The Chu Vision Institute, one of the clinical investigation sites for the study that lead to approval of the 1-Piece IOL, has been using the 1-Piece platform for 2 to 3 years. "In the clinical trials, patients had an incredible ‘wow’ factor with this lens. Patients commented on the improvement in the quality of their vision," says Dr. Chu. OM

For more information on the Tecnis 1-Piece IOL, visit AMO's Web site at www.amo-inc.com. Dr. Piracha is an investigator for AMO products and Dr. Chu is a consultant for AMO.