Innovative cataract and refractive studies win ESCRS Poster Awards

The safety and efficacy of cross-linking in the treatment of corneal ulcers, and the low re-operative rate of bag-in-the-lens implantation in paediatric eyes were two of the compelling topics which caught the attention of judges in the 2020 ESCRS Poster Awards. First prize for best refractive poster was awarded to Emilio Torres-Netto from Switzerland for his poster entitled “Corneal cross-linking for treating infectious keratitis: final results of the prospective randomized controlled multicentre trial.” In the cataract category, the first prize was awarded to Helene Bailleul from France for her poster on the “Rate of re-intervention in paediatric cataract surgery with ‘bag-in-the-lens’ fixation: ten years of experience”. Dr Torres-Netto’s prospective, randomised phase III study set out to analyse the time to corneal epithelization with photoactivated chromophore for infectious keratitis-corneal cross-linking (PACK-CXL) as a first-line treatment in early infectious corneal ulcers, and compare it to antimicrobial therapy, which is the current standard of care. A total of 42 patients were included in the study, 23 in the medication group and 19 in the PACK-CXL group. Gram-positive cocci were the most commonly identified pathogens in the study. Cases of fungal infection were shown to have worse visual acuity both at presentation and at discharge. No significant differences in corneal re-epithelization time were observed between the medication and PACK-CXL groups. “Our results suggest a role for PACK-CXL as an alternative to antimicrobials as primary treatment for infectious corneal infiltrates and early corneal ulcers,” concluded Dr Torres-Netto. In her prize winning cataract poster, Dr Bailleul’s retrospective study looked at the rate and reasons of secondary surgery in 76 paediatric patients implanted between 2009 and 2019 using Marie-Jose Tassignon’s bag-in-the-lens’ (BIL) technique. The results reported just 9 reoperations over the 10-year period. “The prevalence of posterior capsule opacification tends to be close to 0% if both the posterior and anterior capsulorhexis are well calibrated and if the BIL implant is well positioned in both capsules,” Dr Bailleul concluded. Second prize in the refractive poster category was awarded to Magali Vandevenne for a study on cone location and size in keratoconus patients, while third prize went to Thomas Jenyon for a study on lenticule insertion for the management of keratoconus and post-LASIK ectasia. Second prize in the cataract category was awarded this year to Ramin Khoramnia for “Enlightening intraocular lens calcification: an innovative in vitro model” and third prize went to Georgia Siasou for a study on complicated cataract cases with dropped nuclear fragment and secondary pars plana fragmatome lensectomy. END

Tags: awards, ESCRS Virtual Congress 2020