For the third year in a row, the ESCRS Annual Congress will be hosting a “Glaucoma Day” organised by the European Glaucoma Society (EGS). As in previous years, it will bring together some of Europe’s leading glaucoma experts who, in a series of sessions, will provide in-depth discussions on the latest controversies and latest developments in the management of this as yet poorly understood disease.
The first session, chaired by Anja Tuulonen MD, Finland, will include presentations examining the burden of glaucoma on patients and society, with up-to-date statistics on the incidence and the direct and indirect costs of the disease. There will also be discussions about the most cost-effective way of improving the detection of glaucoma and about the options available to patients with visual impairment from glaucoma who are nearing the end of their lives.
The second session, chaired by Fotis Topouzis MD, Greece, will be concerned with some of the other pathological mechanisms apart from intraocular pressure (IOP) which may play a part in the disease. There will be presentations regarding the ocular and non-ocular risk factors which large studies have revealed, as well as a critical re-evaluation of the ways IOP is measured and interpreted.
The following session, chaired by Jean- Philippe Nordmann MD, France, will address some of the controversies that have emerged in recent years regarding the medical treatment of glaucoma. Specifically, the presentations will assess the cost/benefit ratio of preservative-free glaucoma medication, the question of whether generic medication really have the same bioavailability as the original branded products, and the role of informing patients about the nature of their disease to insure adherence to their prescribed regimens.
The final two sessions will be concerned with the surgical treatment of glaucoma. The first, chaired by Keith Barton FRCS, UK, will include a presentation concerning such matters as the place of argon laser trabeculoplasty and selective laser trabeculoplasty in the current treatment stepladder, as new treatments with similar indications become available. In addition, there will be presentations examining the prevention and treatment of the common complications of filtration surgery, as well as the relative advantages and disadvantages of alternatives to trabeculectomy, such as drainage devices, minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and cyclodestructive procedures.
The second glaucoma surgery session and final session of the day, chaired by Carroll Webers MD, The Netherlands, will include several presentations regarding angle closure glaucoma, including the current prevalence of the disease in Europe, which has undergone considerable changes in the composition of its population over recent decades, and also the diagnosis of the disease. There will also be presentations which will examine the problems that need to be considered when a patient requires surgery for both cataract and glaucoma and whether the procedures should be carried out in combination or separately.
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