Latest News. New Zealand Ophthalmology well represented at Asia-ARVO

BY PROFESSOR CHARLES MCGHEE

This year the Asia-ARVO international meeting on Research in Vision and Ophthalmology was held in Hyderabad, India, from the 15th to 18th January and attracted more than 2,000 delegates from around the world. Despite raised tensions over the recent events in Mumbai there were large contingents from the USA and Europe and a smaller group from New Zealand and Australia. A delegation from Auckland included Dr Peter and Alison Ring and Jasha Morarji from Eye Institute and Professor Charles and Jane McGhee, Dr Monika Pradhan and Stuti Misra from the New Zealand National Eye Centre, University of Auckland. Between them the Auckland team chaired three sessions, provided nine presentations and displayed six scientific posters – a credible representation of New Zealand ophthalmology and visual sciences.

Dr Ring was an invited speaker and symposium chair on cataract and refractive surgery. He presented two major papers completed with co-investigators Jasha Morarji and Dr Rasha Altaie (corneal fellow, University of Auckland): one on research upon “visual outcomes and higher order aberration differences between spherical and aspheric Restor multifocal IOLs”, and the second on “Femtosecond versus microkeratome LASIK”. Peter’s extensive experience with both “all laser” and microkeratome-based LASIK and his review of two large groups of patients treated by himself at Eye Institute appealed to both conference delegates and the scientific judges. Indeed, Peter and his co-authors were awarded the prize for the best scientific paper in the Innovations in Refractive Surgery section!

Jasha also presented a unique poster on “Multifocal vision following phacoemulsification – a professional perspective” which generated further interest in the related papers and posters presented by the Eye Institute team. She displayed a further two posters in conjunction with Dr Altaie - the first on outcomes for a series of presbyopic patients undergoing surgery with insertion of multifocal IOLs and another on scleral sutured IOLs following trauma.

Dr Pradhan, a genetics fellow with Dr Andrea Vincent in the Department of Ophthalmology, presented a poster on an unusual case of TB drug induced optic neuropathy in a young man predisposed to toxicity by a genetic mutation. She also presented a key podium paper on genetic testing for retinal disorder in the public hospital system in New Zealand. Ms Stuti Misra, an optometrist who has recently commenced her PhD studies with Dr Jennifer Craig in the Department of Ophthalmology, presented a poster highlighting the role of heat goggles in enhancing the pre-ocular tear film lipid volume.

Professor McGhee, a familiar speaker in India, and who was on the International Scientific Advisory Committee for this Asia-ARVO conference, chaired two sessions and presented six lectures and free papers. His topics covered the wide range of research being conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology and the New Zealand National Eye Centre on; keratoconus, in vivo confocal microscopy, higher order aberration, new intra-ocular lens design, cataract, ocular response analysis, corneal topography and anterior segment reconstruction.

Following the conference the Rings and McGhees accompanied by Jasha, undertook an exotic journey through Southern India stopping at numerous palaces, temples and ancient cities from Bangalore to Goa while being fed and pampered on the ‘Golden Chariot’ train. Their unforgettable experience included a major birthday celebration for Charles and a final sojourn on a beautiful beach-side resort on the Arabian Sea.