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Clarity Medical Systems to market new intraoperative aberrometer
The device enables the surgeon to stream refractive data over a live image of the patient's eye to help better align refractive outcomes with the preoperative plan.
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Clarity Medical Systems has received two patents for Holos IntraOp, an intraoperative aberrometer capture and display system that continuously streams real-time refractive wavefront measurements during cataract surgery. The technology overlays this refractive data onto a live image of the patient’s eye.
Holos IntraOp, a module that can be attached to a standard surgical microscope, is intended to expand Clarity’s current product line, according to a news release from Clarity. It is designed to help refractive cataract surgeons achieve outcomes similar to those achieved with other refractive procedures, such as LASIK, Keith L. Mullowney, Clarity CEO and president, said in an interview with Ocular Surgery News.
“Today it’s all about outcomes, in my view,” Mullowney said. “The outcomes in refractive cataract surgery are lagging outcomes in these other refractive procedures. Intraoperative aberrometry can potentially help surgeons improve these outcomes by providing continuous, real-time refractive information throughout the surgery so that surgeons can potentially modify their plan to more consistently achieve their intended result.”
Clarity also makes the RetCam, a leading imaging modality in pediatric ophthalmology used to manage retinoblastoma, screen retinopathy of prematurity, and help physicians document and manage other pediatric ocular diseases.
Significant market share anticipated
Holos IntraOp is expected to capture a significant share of the global intraoperative aberrometry market, which totals about $600 million, Mullowney said.
“As we commercialize this technology, we will rapidly drive the company to profitability,” Mullowney said. “We believe Holos IntraOp will garner significant market share. We already have very strong interest from the surgical community about the technology. We actually have a waiting list.”
Clarity plans to use its own sales infrastructure to market the device and partner with companies that manufacture the surgical microscopes that will be used in tandem with Holos IntraOp, he said.
“But our primary plan for moving into the market is through our direct sales force in the U.S. and North America and using ophthalmic specialty distributors worldwide, which is what we’ve done with our RetCam business,” Mullowney said.
Rapid, continuous streaming
Currently, cataract surgeons rely on a preoperative surgical plan based on biometry, Mullowney said, but refractive measurements from intraoperative aberrometry during the surgery may suggest that the surgeon modify his or her plans to ensure target outcomes are not missed.
“[Surgeons] measure the axial length of the eye, they measure the K values, and then they go into the surgery,” Mullowney said. “But during the surgery they currently have no practical way of evaluating what is happening and how the surgical plan is proceeding against their goal. Intraoperative aberrometry offers the potential to allow the surgeon to check his or her progress in the course of the procedure and modify their surgical plan if appropriate.”
Holos IntraOp enables surgeons to collect accurate, reproducible data that can be streamed and superimposed over a live image of the patient’s eye in real time, Mullowney said.
“Not only is it fast as far as surgical time, it gives you that cause and effect,” he said.
The device may be particularly effective in helping refractive cataract surgeons correct astigmatism, which affects 60% to 70% of cataract patients, Mullowney said.
Current methods of marking the corneal axis are unreliable and often result in incorrect positioning of toric IOLs, he said.
“We want to help surgeons correct astigmatism so that more patients can be spectacle-free. Real-time intraoperative aberrometry actually allows you to use the changing refraction to orient the lens to the optimal position for that particular patient’s correction,” Mullowney said. – by Cheryl DiPietro and Matt Hasson