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Dry AMD expected to be hot topic at Retina 2012
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Twenty of the world’s top retina specialists will share the latest information on new therapeutic agents, surgical technologies and clinical trials at Retina 2012.
Jointly sponsored by Ocular Surgery News and Vindico Medical Education, the 20th annual Retina symposium will take place in conjunction with Hawaiian Eye 2012 at the Grand Wailea Maui Resort from Jan. 15, to Jan. 20.
With a favorable faculty-to-attendee ratio, there will be ample time for attendees to engage the meeting’s faculty experts in informal dialogue throughout the weeklong program.
On Monday, the Retinal Imaging Symposium will offer presentations and discussions of current issues in optical coherence tomography.
“There are many OCT talks. The ones on Doppler OCT, imaging the choroid and following the progression of dry AMD are important,” Elias Reichel, MD, a Retina 2012 course director, told Ocular Surgery News in an email interview.
“OCT imaging has a fairly rapid technological evolution and acceptance among ophthalmologists. New frontiers of imaging — the choroid, the vasculature system and the retinal pigment epithelium — can now be evaluated in a variety of disease states, including central serous retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy and dry AMD,” Dr. Reichel said.
Tuesday kicks off part 1 of the Macular Degeneration Symposium and will focus on wet AMD; the second part, taking place on Wednesday, will focus on dry AMD.
“Dry AMD is the ‘new’ exciting area in retinal pharmaceuticals,” Dr. Reichel said. “At present, the only treatment available for dry AMD is AREDS vitamin supplementation. The complement story as it relates to AMD is particularly compelling and is generating a lot of excitement. It’s a hot topic.”
Dr. Reichel also highly recommends the Friday morning presentations by J. William Harbour, MD, “Contemporary Management of Posterior Uveal Melanoma” and “Genetic Discoveries in Uveal Melanoma and Their Clinical Importance.”
“The uveal melanoma story is an important one in that it allows us to prognosticate regarding the lethality of tumors,” Dr. Reichel said. “It’s much better for our patients to know whether they have a relatively benign tumor or one that is highly malignant. Genetics can now help us with that. Since tissue is readily observable and accessible for biopsy, determining the genetics of these tumors facilitates better treatment decisions and allows for better ways of following these patients systemically.”– by Daniel R. Morgan
- Elias Reichel, MD, can be reached at 750 Washington St., Box 450, Boston, MA 02111; 617-636-1648; email: ereichel@tufts-nemc.org.
- Disclosure: Dr. Reichel is a course director for the Retina 2012 meeting.