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PCON sponsors SECO course
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Primary Care Optometry News will sponsor a 2-hour retina lecture during the SECO 2009 meeting in Atlanta, March 6, 2009.
 Leo P. Semes |
PCON Editorial Board member and editor of the PCON “What’s Your Diagnosis?” column, Leo P. Semes, OD, will discuss abnormal vitreoretinal adherences and the anatomical consequences of these at the macula and in the periphery. He will review digital imaging and detail management strategies and guidelines for treatment.
“The process of vitreous aging involves liquefaction, which produces clumping of the collagen framework of the vitreous gel,” Dr. Semes told PCON. “Once sufficient liquefaction occurs, the vitreous can no longer support itself and collapses and detaches from its mooring at the optic disc. In acute situations, this is what creates the symptoms patients describe as flashes and floaters. It is the familiar posterior vitreous detachment (PVD).”
While 95% of PVD cases have benign outcomes, blood or breaks can be found. “These represent the consequences of abnormal vitreoretinal adherences in the peripheral retina,” Dr. Semes said. “In the posterior pole, the impact can be on visual acuity. This takes the form of vitreomacular traction and may include macular hole or epiretinal membrane formation or a host of related tractional observations.”
Dr. Semes said he will divide the consequences of abnormal vitreous attachments into those involving the posterior pole and those in the peripheral retina. “The key take-home message will stress the value of examining the vitreomacular interface with optical coherence tomography and transferring that information to clinical observations.”
“Adventures in the Vitreous” will be held March 6, 2009, 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in Room A314 at the George World Congress Center in Atlanta. To register, go to www.pconsupersite.com/SECO.