EyeWorld Asia-Pacific June 2011 Issue

29 EW CATARACT/IOL June 2011 OCULUS Pentacam ® The indispensable tool for anterior segment analysis Whether keratoconus, cataract or other corneal diseases - the OCULUS Pentacam ® detects it! Various software modules such as the Belin/Ambrosio Enhanced Ectasia display, advanced IOL calculation and many others support your daily work precisely and efficiently. Oculus Asia Ltd. Hong Kong Tel. +852 2987 1050 • Fax +852 2987 1090 www.oculus.de • info@oculus.hk www.pentacam.com Questionnaires, site visits reveal TASS causes R esearchers recently gleaned a better understanding of the causes of toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS). A report in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JCRS) reported on the results from 77 questionnaires and 54 site visits, all from surgical centers that have reported cases of TASS since 2006. TASS causes a sterile inflammatory reaction and typically presents 12 hours to 2 days post-op. Limbus-to-limbus corneal edema, damage to the endothelial cell layer, a breakdown in the blood-aqueous barrier, iris damage, and glaucoma secondary to trabecular meshwork damage are all associated with TASS. Although topical steroids can treat TASS, in severe cases, permanent corneal edema, glaucoma, and other chronic inflammation can occur. TASS received a great deal of attention within ophthalmology in 2006 when a number of cases were reported and again when the syndrome was associated with a particular irrigating solution. “We wanted to point out that TASS still occurs,” said study co-investigator Nick Mamalis, MD, professor of ophthalmology, John A. Moran Eye Center, ophthalmology and visual sciences department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Dr. Mamalis is co-chair of the ASCRS TASS Task Force as well. “When there is an outbreak, people hear a lot about it. When things quiet down to baseline, people tend to forget about it. It’s important to bring it to the forefront,” he said. In addition to the goal of avoiding TASS outbreaks, another reason to bring TASS to the forefront is because its causes, as shown by the study results, are due to some common errors, said Henry F. Edelhauser, PhD, professor of ophthalmology and director of ophthalmic research, Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga., USA. “Cataract surgery is to some extent routine. A lot of times, it’s a high-volume surgery, and things Targeting TASS by by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Editor are moving quickly,” said Dr. Edelhauser, who is also co-chair of the ASCRS TASS Task Force. “It takes a lot to clean instruments, and sometimes there’s not adequate time.” TASS 1-day post-op Source: Simon Holland, MD continued on page 30