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Ana Hidalgo-Simón MD PhD
We will have to wait until next year's ESCRS Congress before we can enjoy a Parisian extravaganza. In the meantime, if you were unable to attend the recent Congress or if Munich 's appeal got the best of you and you were unable to attend the ceremony, you will be able to buy a copy of the winners' CD from the ESCRS website for €50. Overall Winner: This year's overall winner is all about analogies, used to great effect. It has the feel of a homemade video - a video made ‘at home' by someone who is very good with computers and has a flair for mixing images. In a nutshell, the video describes how a series of spiralled grooves inside an aspiration tube create increased resistance that results in higher vacuum and flow rates. By creating a turbulent flow, the surges and excessive flows are reduced and your control of the phacoemulsification process is increased, potentially improving efficiency and safety of the procedure. Dr Barrett uses real life images, simple animation, graphics and diagrams and very little writing text to convince you that it is all just a question of common sense and that this idea should be implemented immediately in all aspiration tubes around the globe. Its great merit is that it makes the idea look very simple, but nevertheless it takes you into the basic physics behind the research. Publishers like to say that every time you print a mathematical equation you loose half a million readers. This is one of the few cases where formulas are presented and explained without getting in the way, or losing the audience. So grind your teeth if you don't like analogies – but this is well worth watching to see how effective video can be: both to explain and to convince. Educational Category
Is ablation truly cold? If you ever wondered about this, or if you would like to hear Dr Gimbel's opinion about it, this video has some pointers. It concentrates on problems associated with the laser plume.To make his case, he takes some ‘artistic license' and shows a Hiroshima-like mushrooming plume, with corneal material floating all over. You need to be reminded that all this is microscopic so as not to get too frightened. And although microscopic (0.22 microns), it gets analysed from several angles in this video. The professional narrator was given the text and told the time limit, and did a good job. It feels a bit rushed, but it is clear. Although there is a little live footage, some diagrams, and a lot of text slides, histology and electron microscope images are the stars of the video. Electron microscopy can be very convincing, and the images selected here are clear and compelling. Laser plumes consist of an assortment of oligopeptides, with live viruses on top. Toxicology studies not surprisingly suggest that they are potentially damaging. The video reminds us that the potential danger involves not only your patients, but also yourself. You don't find many ophthalmologic videos that end up with recommendations to protect both your health and your results! 2nd Prize: Roger Steinert, USA - DR ZERNIKE'S VISION 3rd Prize: Kerry D. Solomon USA - EYE MOVEMENT AND LASER TRACKING SYSTEMS: THE MYTH UNCOVERED Innovative Category
Dr Krumeich has made a very academic video. The language, the images, and the tone are scholarly. It is an ode to the "ring".From a classical architecture introduction, where the values of the ring for support and balance are praised with historical examples, the video smoothly moves into the cornea and how to implant corneal rings perfectly. The snippets of surgery, both in donor and recipient corneas, feel very realistic. The progression is visually extremely clear, and uses simple animation and drawings superimposed onto images. The technique presented consists of the placement of a ring in a recipient's cornea. The ring itself looks like a plain silvery ring, but it is made of cobalt-molybdenum-titanium alloy.The main requirement for placement is two equally angled ring cuts (of the implant and the recipient bed). The main advantage is the stabilisation of the transplant, which results in reduced astigmatism and faster post-operative healing. You also need to like putting in perfectly shaped starred stitches, which the ring apparently facilitates greatly by immobilising the implant. With standard implantation you do not need to remove the ring – you can leave it permanently. This is a clear explanation of a solution for some difficult cases. 2nd Prize: Kimiya Shimizu , Japan - PRELOADED INJECTOR 3rd Prize: Takayuki Akahoshi , Japan - ULTRA-LOW ENERGY PHACO Back to top... New Contributors Category Perhaps the presentation of a new technique or a new instrument is where ophthalmic videos started to gain prestige and to reach a wider audience. Video is a great medium to ‘show' how things work or how to perform new operations or procedures.This is a classical video in that tradition. It has a professional narrator, high quality images, first-rate animation and delivers a clear and loud message. It is professionally produced, and uses bombastic language: ‘virtual elimination', ‘extremely comfortable', and ‘spectacular efficacy' are some examples taken from its script. It also has a simulated pulse sound, to show the frequency and magnitude of the pulse generated by the system. The new technology consists of deflected high-energy fluid pulses that can remove lens fibres and cells, apparently sparing any damage to the posterior capsule, even at maximum energy levels. This has the potential for reducing the complication rate of cataracts surgery, especially regarding the integrity of the anterior and posterior capsules.The system is shown in action with beautifully clear close-up intra-operative video sequences. The images corroborate the narrator's assertion that this system ‘turns the most sceptical surgeon into a believer of this technology'. 2nd Prize: Kimiya Shimizu , Japan - PRELOADED INJECTOR 3rd Prize: Takayuki Akahoshi , Japan - ULTRA-LOW ENERGY PHACO Scientific
The problem addressed by this video is unstable capsular bags in cases of profound zonular dialysis. The solution is an intraocular device called the ‘Capsular Tension Segment' (CTS). It is a slender one-piece device that is easy to place into the capsular bag. Once inside the bag, sutures can be passed through attachment holes in the CTS. Those sutures can then pull the device, and the bag with it, into place with a smooth dragging movement. An image in this case is worth many thousands of words. The video provides several cases in which you see the CTS in action from many angles. It also shows you the view from inside the eye, which makes a nice change. The CTS itself is beautiful. It reminds me of the flying buttresses of gothic cathedrals, with organic and flexible forms. If there was a competition for beautiful intraocular devices, this would be the winner. Apart from a few clear static images of the CTS, and an image of ultrasound bio-microscopy, the video is almost entirely made of surgical images taken through the operating microscope. The music is quite loud though, sometimes impairing the clarity of narration. Fortunately the images speak for themselves. 2nd Prize: Hiroko Bissen-Miyajima, Japan
- 3rd Prize: Nick Mamalis, USA
- Special Cases 1ST PRIZE: CUSTOMISED IOLS IN AN ODD EYE: THE TORIC TWO IOLS CONCEPT
This video was very clearly labelled. The authors acknowledge no commercial interest in the products featured; they do acknowledge the reader, their University and other colleagues that helped. The group is based in Mainz ( Johannes Gutenberg-University Hospital ). The video starts with a clever visual representation of astigmatic visual disturbances. A colourful image is distorted and stretched in different directions to mimic the astigmatic buckles of the view through a highly astigmatic eye. The narrator is no professional, but is very clear. The video uses intra-operative images with the help of a text slide or two, some short clips of very high quality animation, and a few computer tricks that enhance the overall experience. The team presents a single case of a highly astigmatic eye. It is a case report in video format, which allows the authors to show the preoperative assessment, the operation, and the post-surgical evaluation. One year later, the results are excellent. The operation consisted of the insertion of an IOL with a torus of -30 D of cylindrical power after penetrating keratoplasty in a patient with high astigmatic errors and a nuclear cataract. The implantation was performed via a sclerocorneal tunnel incision into the capsular bag. Then, a spherical IOL of -12 D sphere was implanted into the ciliary sulcus.The authors present this individually manufactured toric IOL as a solution for special eyes. The producers of the video use the power of the medium to show static and dynamic test results, as well as the key aspects of the operation itself. It is an effective way to share a successful therapeutic approach. 2nd Prize: Roberto Bellucci , Italy -
3rd Prize: Mittanamalli Sridhar , India -
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AS in past years, the ESCRS/Alcon video awards ceremony recognised the various winners with plenty of pomp and circumstance following the official opening of the XXI ESCRS congress. Ulf Stenevi MD, the president of the ESCRS acknowledged each of the winners during the ceremony. The first prize winners in each category received beautiful Waterford crystal sculptures. The awards for best ophthalmologic videos were divided into 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each category, and there is an overall winner of the competition. Following tradition, the audience received a gift to take home: a full-length copy of all winning videos of 2003. Breaking with tradition, this year's videos were given away on CD-ROM.Actually, the box contains three CDs, in a very simple and well-organised format. Do not fear if you are not too keen on computer CDs, the following reassuring sentence is printed on each of them: ‘Disc will auto-run after placing into CD drive'. You only need to put it into the correct drive, and then just sit back and enjoy the show. The resolution is quite high so you won't have to watch a very small square in the middle of your screen.