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Endoscopic techniques enhance vitreoretinal surgeon’s view
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KOLOA, Hawaii — Endoscopic vitrectomy may be the next generation in vitreoretinal surgery, according to a speaker here.
“To my thinking, in many ways, the vitreoretinal surgery playing field is flat. …The tools and hardware that we have are evenly distributed, and we can get great care all across the country. Our next levels of improvement for vitreoretinal surgery certainly involve drugs,” Allen C. Ho, MD, of Wills Eye Institute, said at Retina 2014. “But also more simply involve viewing.”
Allen C. Ho
Whereas endoscopic techniques are used regularly for glaucoma surgery, for retinal applications, endoscopy permits imaging when anterior-posterior segment conditions preclude the posterior view or when anatomy or pathology is not visible through the microscope, Ho said. For example, endoscopy is advantageous in cases of opacified cornea or when blood or gas is in the anterior chamber; or to visualize a dislocated lens, pars plana or ciliary processes behind the iris, he said.
“One of the greatest improvements that we get with endoscopic tools is we see vitreous very clearly. … The endoscope gives a unique perspective because the vitreous and collagen fibers are directly visualized,” Ho said, adding that light reflects off the vitreous rather than passing through it. —by Patricia Nale
Disclosure: Ho is a consultant and an advisor for Endoptiks.