Keynote Lecture: Quo vadis, Glaucoma Surgery?

There’s a lot going on in glaucoma surgery – Professor Franz Grehn will provide an overview of new operational trends in his keynote lecture on Thursday, 25.9.2014. The Würzburg expert will show why this area of ophthalmology has developed increasingly towards personalized medicine.

Trabeculectomy has so far been considered the “classic” glaucoma surgery – the gold standard. However, the method is also known to pose risks, involving primarily excessive pressure drop and scarring due to wound healing. To minimize these complications, experts have developed other surgical techniques over the past few years. In addition to filtration surgery they include not only canaloplasty but also tube implants and chamber angle surgery. The new methods aim to optimize the drainage ducts.

But what kind of intervention is indicated, and when? What is best for the patient? Recent studies show: canaloplasty is better than trabeculectomy with respect to the risks, but less effective in terms of pressure reduction; tube implants in turn have their place, should the classic interventions remain unsuccessful despite repeated attempts. On the one hand this moves the patient’s individual risk profile to the centre of surgical considerations which increasingly align with the principles of personalized medicine. On the other hand it is already apparent today that glaucoma surgery of the future will combine different operation elements to get efficacy and lowest possible risk.

The keynote lecture “Glaucoma surgery – Quo vadis?” Will take place on September 25, 2014 from 11.30 a.m. to 12.00 noon in the von Graefe hall.