Three physicians recognized with "Best in Show" for research poster
Nelson presented the work, which was co-authored with his mentors, Dr. Baker Hubbard and Pediatric Division director, Dr. Amy Hutchinson.
Joining them at the national gathering was a full complement of Emory Eye Center faculty, including Department chair, Allen Beck, MD, Phoebe Lenhart, MD, Jason Peragallo, MD, and Carolina Adams, MD.
Another familiar face, Dr. Rebecca Neustein, presented her research, The Ahmed Glaucoma Drainage Device: Long-Term Clinical Outcomes in the Pediatric Population.
Neustein, a former Emory ophthalmology resident, is currently completing a glaucoma fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital and will join the EEC faculty later this year.
Nelson presented the poster, which was a review of patients who were treated unilaterally or had their eyes treated sequentially for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), an eye disorder caused by abnormal blood vessels in the retina of a premature infant. Nelson had reviewed 10 years’ worth of ROP cases, focusing on instances where initially, only one eye met criteria for ROP treatment.
Most ROP cases are symmetric, so we end up treating both eyes by injecting intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) on the same day. However, in some cases, ROP presents asymmetrically,†said Nelson.
This is happening more frequently since IVB has become the preferred approach to treatment in many cases, supplanting laser treatment, which required general anesthesia. In this study, we wanted to look at how many instances we initially treated only one eye, and then see the natural history of the other untreated eye.
What we found, out of the 22 cases with one eye treated initially, was that 11 eventually required bevacizumab in the other eye. These findings do not support a strong systemic effect of IVB. But for those persistently asymmetric cases, it's a good treatment strategy to reduce systemic absorption of bevacizumab.
Another interesting outcome of the study found that unilaterally treated eyes demonstrated no significant difference in refractive error relative to the untreated eye.
The team concluded that additional study is needed since the number of patients studied was relatively few.
Doctors Lenhart and Peragallo presented and analyzed cases with their colleagues at the Difficult Problems: Non-Strabismus
workshop, which Lenhart moderated.
As practicing physicians, we gain invaluable insight into our own work when we are able to frankly discuss the clinical reasoning behind diagnosis and management,
said Lenhart, who currently serves as the vice chair of the AAPOS Professional Education committee.
Analyzing tough cases with other pediatric ophthalmologists and strabismus experts is incentive to attend a workshop like this.
Attendees of the What's New and Important in Pediatric Ophthalmology
workshop received something of a literature review that included interpretations of the top pediatric ophthalmology papers published in more than 27 high-impact journals. The collection was assembled by the AAPOS Professional Education committee.
Our goal is to provide our colleagues with the newest high-quality information regarding patient care and treatment modalities for children and adults with strabismus,
explained Adams, who ran the workshop. We produced a comprehensive review along with a shorter version that features the top 10 percent of articles presented at the AAPOS annual meeting.
-Kathleen E. Moore