Key Surgical Benefits

Today’s cataract surgeons have optimized the way they perform surgery. Technologies such as the OPD-Scan wavefront aberrometer/corneal analyzer and the TRS-5100 digital refractor are helping them optimize the decisions that go into planning surgery. Armed with the accurate data they need, surgeons are choosing the right candidates for toric and multifocal IOLs, as well as tracking and comparing outcomes to fine-tune their approach in the future.

“As the industry continues developing new lenses, it will become increasingly important to get more information on the front end and the back end, closing the loop and improving refractive outcomes. Robust refraction and accurate topography will be key, and the OPD-Scan provides that,” says Kerry D. Solomon,MD, Director of the Carolina Eyecare Research Institute at Carolina Eyecare Physicians in Charleston, S.C.

Dr. Solomon uses the OPD-Scan’s unique astigmatism measurements in planning treatment. “The OPD-Scan’s accurate measurement of absolute astigmatism has helped me choose toric lenses,” he says. “And by combining robust corneal topography with wavefront aberrometry, it also allows us to separate the lenticular astigmatism from corneal astigmatism that may be present in the refraction. When we notice a difference between refraction and what we get on the topography, this analysis provides the explanation.”

Using the OPD-Scan, surgeons are able to mark the eye for IOL placement using ocular structures, rather than pen marks. The device also helps surgeons formulate a treatment plan by measuring angle kappa, the difference between the optical axis and the visual axis.

“The Marco OPD-Scan device has made it quite easy to measure angle kappa, which has facilitated my ability to choose IOL implants to enhance visual outcomes. In my experience and as I presented at ESCRS, when patients have an angle kappa of 0.4mm or greater, multifocal IOLs can induce more aberrations, glare and halo. Patients can be dissatisfied with their outcome,” says Mitchell A. Jackson, MD, Medical Director of Jackson-Eye in Chicago and Lake Villa, Ill. “If patients with large angle kappa want presbyopia correction, I prefer to use an aspheric accommodating or monovision lens implant.”

Dr. Jackson also points to the advantages of the Marco system capturing multiple tests quickly in a single sitting. “Testing time is cut significantly, which improves our efficiency. Patients don’t have to move from machine to machine. The test results are potentially more accurate than those we get by spending 15 minutes on consecutive tests because the eyes don’t have time to become dry and desiccated in away that can affect the diagnostic results.”

A final key step in improving surgical outcomes is to track and compare them.Marco gives surgeons the ability to do this very easily.

“No matter what kind of lenses we implant,we need to track and evaluate our own outcomes data,” explains Dr. Solomon. “To hit our refractive mark without glasses,we get a good postoperative refraction and plug the data into the ASCRS website using the OPD-Scan at every 1-month postoperative exam. This allows us to fine-tune our approach to cataract surgery.”

Cataract surgeons are capable of delivering better visual outcomes than ever before.With the accuracy of single-sitting, multi-parameter testing and new ways to look at astigmatism and angle kappa before surgery, the bar continues to be raised. This is how the OPD-Scan and the TRS-5100 are helping to position cataract surgeons for the future.