A visit to the ASCRS Annual meeting reveals that ophthalmology’s future is bright, thanks to advances in diagnostic technology.
Last month, I attended the ASCRS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. Two things made it particularly memorable: It was one of the first major congresses to reconvene in-person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was one of a few retina specialists there peering into the anterior segment world’s latest and greatest.
As I wandered through the convention center — mask in tow amid our new normal — it dawned on me how much imaging technology has propelled our field forward. Even though I could not understand all the nuances of topography-guided PRK or intraoperative OCT-assisted lamellar keratoplasty, there was one thing I completely understood. Subspecialty aside, we are all striving for the same thing: precision. Diagnostic advances are helping us achieve it.
IN THIS ISSUE
This issue of Ophthalmology Management focuses on diagnostic imaging with topical contributions from leading experts.
Drs. Anat Loewenstein and Michael Elman provide an overview of at-home OCT systems and how they could revolutionize neovascular AMD management (page 26). This type of artificial intelligence (AI)-based remote monitoring may be especially impactful with the emergence of longer-durability therapeutics.
Speaking of AI, Dr. Peter Karth updates us on the automated diagnosis of retinal disease (page 40). Earlier this year, Medicare introduced a new CPT code, 92229, for automated AI diagnosis and point-of-care reporting, symbolically marking the arrival of AI in ophthalmology.
Patient expectations are higher than ever before, fueling innovations in cataract surgery such as light adjustable lenses, next-generation optical biometry devices and intraoperative aberrometry. Dr. Kourtney Houser reviews how the latter can be leveraged to refine IOL selection and hit the refractive target more consistently (page 32).
Since OCT angiography (OCT-A) became commercially available in 2014, we continue to learn how to interpret microvascular details that could not be visualized previously. In a jointly-authored article, Drs. Robert Weinreb, Nevin El-Nimri, Sasan Moghimi and Kareem Moussa explain how they are applying OCT-A in their respective glaucoma and retina practices (page 36).
Precision can only be fully realized when coupled with practicality. With ever-increasing metrics and images available, we need a way to efficiently acquire, store and display them. Dr. S.K. Steven Houston III shares pearls on what has worked well in his high-volume clinics (page 22).
Finally, along a similar vein, contributing editor Conni Bergmann Koury expands on how image management systems can consolidate data and streamline workflows (page 44).
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
To close, a word of thanks and another of optimism. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as this month’s guest editor as I am for the contributions of all authors and the OM editorial team. I hope you will find this issue as interesting and informative as I have.
My time in Vegas reminded me that the future of ophthalmology is incredibly bright. With continued advances in our imaging technologies, I bet patient outcomes will be even better tomorrow than they are today. And while I am not typically the betting kind, that’s one where I’d be willing to roll the dice. OM
