Technology News

Approximately 2 years ago, Randy McDonald of the Magnum Group called me with a special request. Dorit B. Donoviel, PhD, the deputy chief scientist and industry forum lead for NASA’s National Space Biomedical Research Institute, had asked him to put together a blue ribbon panel to review the at the time so-called visual impairment and intracranial pressure, or VIIP, syndrome that was affecting some astronauts after extended space travel. The syndrome included a hyperopic shift, choroidal folds and, in some cases, optic disc edema. A few astronauts had demonstrated cotton wool patches. No one had lost any vision permanently, but the hyperopia did not resolve after returning to earth. Elevated intracranial pressure had not been confirmed in any astronauts, and there were no associated headaches, pupil abnormalities or other neurological symptoms.

A number of years ago I overheard a colleague who works for a large eye care device company tell me she had to speak to a doctor about his “DWI.” “Driving while intoxicated,” I soon found out, is not what she meant. It turns out DWI stood for “doctor with an idea.” Evidently, this frequently used industry term refers to the awkward situation in which a doctor approaches a company representative with an idea for a product or service. Company representatives frequently get requests from doctors to talk about their ideas, and very often those ideas are not particularly well thought-out from a standpoint of patentability, regulatory FDA approvability or actual commercial value. Still, occasionally valuable innovations come about from these discussions, and it’s good customer relations to hear out an idea.

Taking an idea from inception to completion as a product or device sold on the ophthalmology market can follow many different paths. No one path is correct, but burgeoning innovators need to realize which one is appropriate for them and their goals for the idea.

Most innovations in ophthalmology originate from a challenge faced by a practicing clinician. It is the clinician in the arena face to face with patients and their problems who first recognizes the unmet needs and looks for answers. Disruptive examples of clinician-driven innovation include IOLs, phacoemulsification, YAG laser posterior capsulotomy, laser therapy of retinal disease, LASIK, anti-VEGF treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, mechanical vitrectomy and all the MIGS procedures, to name only a few.

Novartis has launched the FocalView app, an ophthalmic digital research platform designed to allow researchers to track disease progression by collecting real-time data reported from consenting patients.

WASHINGTON — Steve Charles, MD, delivered the 2018 Charles D. Kelman Innovator’s Lecture at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting and stressed the importance of collaboration, technological advances and the evolutionary nature of the development process.

A new frontier in glaucoma surgery and pharmacological research is taking form in aqueous angiography.

The cover story of the March 10 issue of Ocular Surgery News focused on digital health techniques and technology. Here are some of the issue’s publication exclusives:

Christopher A. Kuntz, MD, recognizing a problem with patient communication in his Seattle-based cataract surgery practice, decided to create a resource to help patients make better informed decisions regarding their surgery options.

Digital health is a rapidly growing field in ophthalmology, and new technologies can better treat, manage and monitor progression of ophthalmic diseases.