In his clinical practice, Dr. Erik L. Mertens, MD, FEBO, director and ophthalmic surgeon at the Antwerp Eye Centre in Belgium, relies on his Avanti OCT system by Optovue for – of all things – IOL power calculations. Pachymetry scans measure the total corneal power (TCP) based on eight meridians on the pupil. “You get a very good idea of how the curvature is distributed between the anterior and posterior part of the cornea,” said Dr. Mertens. “Other OCT devices don’t have this calculation software; Avanti is the only one and it is much more precise than any other formula on the market.”
Importantly, it [Avanti] makes a surgeon’s life much easier, noted Dr. Mertens. “We also don’t need any data from previous surgery. With other methods, you need a lot of information (e.g., refraction, K reading, etc.) You don’t need any previous data with Avanti,” he explained.
In addition, the Avanti system’s AngioVue OCTA software looks at the retina – which can help reduce postoperative problems even for anterior segment surgeons. “You can look at the microvasculature of retina prior to anterior segment surgery and see preexisting problems that you can’t see through a microscope,” he added.
Further, Prof. Dan Z. Reinstein, MD, MA (Cantab), FRCSC, DABO, FRCOphth, FEBO (UK), of the London Vision Clinic, United Kingdom, discussed the epithelium and why it is a crucial tool in screening for keratoconus. Since 1992, Prof. Reinstein has been using Artemis Insight, a very high-frequency digital ultrasound technology. Now it is also possible to measure things by OCT, emphasized Prof. Reinstein, so all of the knowledge gained by previous studies using VHF digital ultrasound can be applied to OCT measurements of the epithelium.
Optovue’s Avanti OCT can measure epithelial thickness up to an expanded 9 mm zone. “Tomography devices are very good and have improved significantly over the years, but adding epithelial thickness data improves this even further,” he said. “It enables you to exclude keratoconus in cases where there is some suspicion based on tomography alone.”
During the one-hour symposium at ESCRS 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal, attendees had the opportunity to listen to the following presentations:
• Total Cornea Power and AngioVue OCTA are Fundamental to My Refractive Practice with Erik Mertens, MD (Belgium)
• AngioVueHD and 3D PAR: A Huge Leap Forward in Facilitating Imaging of Retinal Pathologies with Rufino Silva, MD, PhD (Portugal)
• Quantification of Ocular Structure and Vasculature with AngioVue: Redefining Detection and Monitoring of Glaucoma with Kaweh Mansouri, MD (Switzerland)
• The Impact of Epithelial Thickness Mapping (ETM) in Corneal Refractive Surgery with Prof. Dan Z Reinstein, MD, MA (Cantab), FRCSC, DABO, FRCOphth, FEBO (UK)
• Unleashing the Power of Your OCT System – Tips from an Imaging Expert, with Adil El Maftouhi, OD (France)