ESCRS Poster Prize winners

First, second and third prizes for the best cataract and refractive posters were awarded on Sunday afternoon during the Video Awards Session.  The posters are judged based on originality, scientific quality, relevance to clinical practice and presentation. REFRACTIVE First prize in the Refractive Category was given to Anastasios John Kanellopoulos MD, Greece, for his poster “Topography-modified refraction (TMR): partial to total adjustment of treated cylinder amount and axis provided by topography data measured vs using the standard clinical refraction in myopic topography-guided LASIK”. The poster describes the results of a study comparing the safety and efficacy of topography-guided myopic LASIK using a standard clinical refraction approach or the TMR strategy. Using a contralateral eye control design, the study included 100 eyes of 50 consecutive patients. Patients had one eye randomised to treatment with the standard clinical refraction approach and the fellow eye to TMR treatment. Analyses of data collected through follow-up to 12 months showed both approaches were associated with excellent refractive outcomes, predictability, and stability. However, the TMR group had superior visual acuity outcomes and significantly less residual refractive error and refractive astigmatism than the control group. Furthermore, analyses of total high-order aberrations, coma and contrast sensitivity favoured the TMR strategy. Dr Kanellopoulos concluded that the findings of the study may change the current clinical paradigm of the optimal subjective refraction utilised in laser vision correction. Anders Ivarsen MD, Denmark, received the second prize for refractive posters for his work on “Factors influencing the outcome of small incision lenticule extraction for myopic astigmatism.” Another poster relating to SMILE, “Three year observation of microdistortions in Bowman’s layer after SMILE for myopia”, by Jing Zhao MD, China, received the refractive poster third prize. CATARACT The top two prizes in the Cataract Category went to researchers from Germany. Uwe Oberheide MD, received first prize for his poster, “Ray tracing simulations for small-aperture and toric IOLs in keratoconus eyes”. The poster explored the potential utility of implanting a small-aperture IOL as an alternative to a toric IOL in keratoconic eyes with irregular astigmatism. Interest in using a small-aperture IOL is based on the fact that limiting the optical system to a central corneal region extends the depth of field and reduces the effect of peripheral corneal aberrations. The poster described the methods for the ray tracing simulations. In addition, it presented evaluations of focus, point spread function (PSF) and Zernike coefficients for an emmetropic eye with regular astigmatism, a phakic eye with keratoconus, and a pseudophakic keratoconic eye with best correction using a toric IOL or a small-aperture IOL. The measured PSF after toric IOL implantation and a simulation of PSF after optimised small-aperture IOL were also presented. Dr Oberheide concluded that significant improvement in image quality is achieved in keratoconus eyes using toric and small-aperture IOLs. Small-aperture IOLs, however, show slightly better image quality in the simulations. Second prize for cataract posters went to Ramin Khoramnia MD, for his study investigating, “Effect of intraocular air or gas injection on hydrophilic intraocular lens material”. Nick Mamalis MD, United States, received the third prize in the category for his poster, “Evaluation of the biocompatibility of intraocular lens power adjustment using a femtosecond laser in the rabbit model”.