Poster prize winners at XXXV ESCRS Congress

  Lionel Raj Daniel Ponniah, winner of the Poster Prize in the Refractive Category at the XXXV Congress of the ESCRS REFRACTIVE First prize in the refractive category prize went to Lional Raj Daniel Ponniah, India, for “Femto modified keratoconic eyes and intracorneal lenticular transplantation (stromal augmentation technique): an effective alternative to DALK”. The poster describes outcomes achieved with what is in essence a reverse SMILE technique. It involves fashioning a donor corneal stromal lenticule 140-200 microns thick, 7.5-8.5mm in diameter, with a femtosecond laser, followed by the creation of an intrastromal pocket, again using femto lasers, with two incisions 180 degrees apart in the non-scarred keratoconic eye, through which the donor lenticule is implanted. The presentation includes the findings of a prospective non-randomised comparative clinical study comparing the six-months outcome of 15 keratoconic eyes that underwent the stromal augmentation technique with those of 15 keratoconic eyes that underwent deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). It showed that vision improved by four lines and two lines, respectively, after stromal augmentation and DALK. Both techniques increased central corneal thickness to normal range and flattened the cornea significantly. DALK flattened the anterior cornea more, although not significantly (p=0.178). However, stromal augmentation flattened the posterior cornea more (p=0.001). The authors conclude that the outcome of intrastromal lenticular transplantation and DALK are comparable in terms of improvement in vision, flattening of cornea, increase in central/paracentral pachymetry and improvement in irregular astigmatism. However, the new technique does not require the sacrifice of recipient tissue or entail the risks of suture-related complications. Second prize went to Anders Ivarsen, Denmark, for “With- or against-the-rule astigmatism, does it matter in SMILE surgery?” and third prize went to Petr Bulíř, Czech Republic, for “Refractive surgery of keratoconus = toric IOL in the bag + toric  IOL in the sulcus”.   Panos Gartaganis,winner of the Poster Prize in the Cataract Category at the XXXV Congress of the ESCRS CATARACT First prize in the Cataract category went to Panos Gartaganis for “Different reasons or a startup factor of hydrophilic IOL calcification?”, which investigated underlying physico-chemical processes and the nature of characteristic deposits causing late opacification of hydrophilic intraocular lenses (IOLs), based on the examination of clinical findings using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. The experiments showed that opacified IOLs had a surface texture characterised by lumps containing salts, and that the morphology of crystalline deposits corresponded to hydroxyapatite (Ca5. (PO4)3OH, HAP). In addition, in vitro experiments simulating the anterior chamber’s conditions showed that the initiation of the calcification process in hydrophilic IOLs with a hydrophobic surface was influenced by factors other than supersaturation conditions. Moreover, explanted hydrophilic IOLs with a hydrophobic surface confirmed experimental analysis. Second prize went to Ina Conrad-Hengerer, Germany, for “Evaluation of visual acuity and refractive accuracy from European and US clinical trials of an intraocular lens that can be non-invasively adjusted after implantation”, and third prize went to Alexander Petzold, Germany, for “Retrospective study of the long-term comparison of patient satisfaction after bilateral implantation of multifocal intraocular lenses of different generations: a 10-year follow-up”.