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Thin-flap LASIK achieves good visual acuity, improves surgical time
A femtosecond laser-excimer laser combination is allowing one clinic to perform 150 cases per day, surgeon says.
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 Yoshihiro Kitazawa |
The IntraLase FS60 femtosecond laser used in combination with the Allegretto Wave Concerto 500-Hz excimer laser achieves good visual acuity and reduces procedure time, according to a retrospective review from one clinic in Japan.
Yoshihiro Kitazawa, MD, of the Kanagawa Clinic, Tokyo, who has performed more than 100,000 procedures using the Concerto since its introduction in 2005, presented the retrospective study, which evaluated laser performance for thin-flap LASIK with 90-µm flaps in 3,106 eyes, at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting.
The 90-µm thick flaps were created with the IntraLase FS60 femtosecond laser (Advanced Medical Optics) before excimer laser ablation with the Allegretto Wave Concerto (WaveLight AG).
Study findings
Dr. Kitazawa said that this particular combination of femtosecond and excimer lasers offered patients a faster recovery of visual acuity and reduced the risk of both dry eye and ectasia.
“[The] Concerto is not only producing a good visual acuity, but also allowing for the reduction of operation time. The maximum number of procedures per day in our clinic could be 150 cases by using the combination of one IntraLase FS60 laser and one Allegretto Wave Concerto,” Dr. Kitazawa told Ocular Surgery News in an e-mail interview.
According to Dr. Kitazawa, at 1 day postop, 67.7% of all cases had achieved uncorrected visual acuity of 30/20 or better and all patients had achieved 20/20 or better.
According to Dr. Kitazawa, 94.1% of the patients in the clinic ultimately had a UCVA better than 30/20 and 99.3% were better than 20/20. In patients with mild myopia, 95.7% were better than 30/20 and 99.6% were better than 20/20 at 1 month postop.
“These results show that Concerto is substantially superior to other excimer lasers which I used to use, and it may be no exaggeration to say that Concerto provides the highest performance in the world,” Dr. Kitazawa said.
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Image: Kitazawa Y |
Using the Concerto
According to Dr. Kitazawa, there are several aspects that make the Concerto unique. The 6.5-mm optical zone elliptic ablation, in particular, produces efficient results not only in spherical correction, but also astigmatic correction.
Dr. Kitazawa, who has several other excimer lasers in his clinic, said he is no longer finding a need to employ them, opting instead to use only the Concerto.
“[The] Concerto is a 500-Hz high-speed flying spot laser, which requires only 2 seconds for 1 D correction. Moreover, all surgeons who have used [the] Concerto in our clinic say that the operability of [the] Concerto is excellent and even Allegretto Wave Eye-Q is unnecessary,” Dr. Kitazawa said.
For more information:
- Yoshihiro Kitazawa, MD, can be reached at Kanagawa Clinic, Department of Ophthalmology, Shinjuku i-LAMD Tower35F, 6-5-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1335, Japan; +81-3-5321-8427; fax: +81-3-5339-1360; e-mail: g-center@kanacli.net. Web site: http://ganka.kanacli.net/
- Advanced Medical Optics, maker of the Intra-Lase FS60 femtosecond laser, can be reached at 1700 E. St. Andrew Place, Santa Ana, CA 92705 U.S.A.; +1-714-247-8200; fax: +1-714-247-8672; Web site: www.amo-inc.com. WaveLight AG, maker of the Concerto excimer laser, can be reached at Am Wolfsmantel 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; +49-91-31-61-86-0; +49-91-31-61-86-111; Web site: www.wavelight-laser.com.
- Andrew Kelly is an OSN Correspondent based in Philadelphia, U.S.A.