New programme elements give EURETINA cutting edge

Retinal specialists and researchers from across the globe have gathered in the autumn sunshine of Nice this week for the 15th EURETINA Congress.

As one of the Cote d’Azur’s most beautiful cities, Nice provides the perfect backdrop to this year’s gathering of clinicians and surgeons interested in the research and treatment of retinal and macular diseases.

Addressing the assembled crowd at the official opening ceremony, Francesco Bandello MD, current president of EURETINA, welcomed delegates to Nice and said that he believed the congress would surpass previous meetings in terms of delegate numbers and programme highlights.

“This year we are delighted and proud to have over 5,000 delegates present. Such a volume of attendance is indeed a most reassuring sign that the EURETINA congress is going from strength to strength both in Europe and internationally,” he said.

Dr Bandello praised the tireless work of the scientific programme committee in building on the solid platform of previous congresses while not being afraid to innovate.

“The programme this year is more extensive than ever and, while we have maintained many of the popular traditional features of the programme, we have also introduced new elements to keep it fresh and cutting-edge,” he added.

Dr Bandello highlighted World Retina Day, which takes place tomorrow, as an example of the organisation’s global reach and ambition.

“With World Retina Day we will see leading societies from around the globe offer delegates a thoroughly international insight into developments in medical and surgical retina. I believe that such a level of international involvement will enhance the congress programme, and bring to the meeting an extraordinary opportunity for global networking,” he said.

As part of the opening ceremony, the EURETINA Lecture 2015 was delivered by Dr Alain Gaudric of France, discussing the broad range of cystoid maculopathies in the era of optical coherence tomography.

Dr Gaudric’s lecture was followed by the presentation of the EURETINA Video Competition Awards, with first prize going to Ahmed Elshewy of Egypt for “Surgical management of a case of a 360-degree giant retinal break”. Second prize was awarded to Tushar K Sinha of India, and third prize to Maria Isabel Relimpio Lopez of Spain.