Technology Updates: Cross-linking and dry eye diagnosis

Post date: Jan 09, 2012 1:9:20 AM

Welcome to 2012! We have been (luckily) really busy lately with an awesome January 2012, and this would not have been possible without you, a valued Affiliate. Thank you for trusting TLC Tysons Corner with your patients' refractive surgery co-management.

Even though we're only a few days into 2012, there have already been two new technology updates, one from Avedro for cross-linking and another from TearLab for its tear osmolarity diagnostic system.

First, here is the official press release from Avedro regarding the CE approval of cross-linking after LASIK:

"Avedro Announces CE Approval for Lasik Xtra ™ Intra-operative Lasik Cross-linking Receives Important European Recognition

Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, January 4, 2012 Avedro, Inc. announced today that the Company’s proprietary Lasik Xtra procedure has received CE Approval. Lasik Xtra is a two minute procedure used in conjunction with standard Lasik to restore the biomechanical integrity and strength to the cornea after a Lasik procedure. Lasik Xtra has been successfully used in thousands of Lasik surgeries outside the US.

'Cross-linking within a LASIK procedure using Lasik Xtra is simple, fast and safe,' said A. John Kanellopoulos, MD, a leading refractive surgeon and member of Avedro’s Medical Advisory Board. 'In studies we’ll be reporting at ASCRS in April we’ve found that after almost two years of follow-up, hyperopes appear to have a completely different clinical course if we employ prophylactic cross-linking in their LASIK procedures. Hyperopic LASIK typically regresses more than myopic LASIK.'

Lasik Xtra combines VibeX™ (riboflavin ophthalmic solution) with its KXL™ System (UVA irradiation) to achieve accelerated corneal cross-linking during a Lasik procedure. 'Avedro has the only cross-linking products specifically CE approved for performing Lasik Xtra and we are pleased to offer those products to a growing number of ophthalmologists and their Lasik patients outside the US,' said David Muller, CEO of Avedro."

You can read the entire press release here. Hopefully you are like me and have no clue what CE approval meant when you read this announcement. Seems like no one that is running this press release cares to define this term either, so I turned to Wikipedia for a rough description. Basically, CE approval means that the product has satisfied certain criteria before being placed on the European market.

Second, Eric Donnenfeld, M.D. presented data on the TearLab tear osmolarity system at a European ophthalmology meeting recently. The information presented was based on a "multi-site refractive surgery centre study" and found that patients with pre-operative hyperosmolarity should be treated more aggressively so that better post-operative results are attained. You can read more about this announcement here. TLC Tysons Corner is proud to have been one of the centers chosen to participate in this study. - jw