New trends and techniques highlighted by prize-winning posters

This year's ESCRS Winter Meeting poster competition had over 400 entries and the winning presentations addressed two important issues in cataract and refractive surgery. >Cataract category The winner in the cataract category was European Observatory of Cataract: infectious post-operative Endophthalmitis prophylaxis 2014 by Anders Behndig, Sweden. The study compared the findings of two surveys of European cataract surgeons, one conducted in 2013 and the other in 2014, together involving a total of over 250,00 procedures. It showed that, although there are some differences between countries, 62 per cent of the survey's respondents were routinely using of the approved intracameral cefuroxime preparation for intracameral use (Aprokam, Thea) in their cataract surgeries in 2014. That compares to only 35 per cent in 2013. On the other hand, the use of postoperative topical antibiotic and steroid combinations increased during the same period, from 43 per cent to 59 per cent, among whom around half use a tapering regimen which could increase antibiotic resistance. >Refractive Category The winning poster in the refractive category was Epithelial on or epithelial off corneal collagen cross-linking: bilateral comparison study by Erdem Yuksel, Turkey. The contralateral eye study, involving 18 eyes of nine patients indicated that performing corneal collagen cross-linking without first deriding the epithelium results in more pain, slower epithelial healing and shallower cross-linking than occurs with conventional epi-on cross linking procedures. However, both approaches appeared to be equally effective at halting the progression of keratoconus during one year of follow-up.