Combining anterior and posterior segment surgery: 5-year follow-up data

Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA, FASRS, discusses his talk at ASRS entitled, “Combined MIVS/Phacoemulsification for Concomitant Management of Retinal Pathology With Cataract: 5-Year Follow-up of a Large, Consecutive Case Series.” The presentation took place on October 11, 2021.

Timothy G. Murray practices as a retina specialist at Miami Children’s Hospital, Baptist Health System and Jackson Memorial Hospital. He is also the Founding Director/CEO of Ocular Oncology and Retina of Miami Florida (MOOR).

Video transcript

Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA, FASRS: So it's kind of exciting to be able to speak at ASRS. And one of my big interests has been combining anterior and posterior segment surgery together for our patients, so that they can have surgery, one procedure that allows them the best ability to recover their vision with the least risk. And that was what we presented here, showing five-year follow-up data on one of the largest series of patients ever to be reported.

It was kind of interesting; patients had really bad vision when they entered because I have a practice that has some complex surgical patients. So about 20/200 vision when they started. And then by three years, the patient's vision had improved to 20/40, which is, which is what we look at as driving vision, and they were able to maintain that through five years. So I think it was very, very exciting to have the long-term follow-up with this kind of combined surgery for the first time.

I think the problem is in the United States, it's very difficult to combine surgeries that include intersegment cataract surgery with posterior segment vitrectomy. It's interesting that our international colleagues do this routinely. So I think the idea here is as our younger doctors are training and they're outstandingly competent in both these areas, that they're now able to provide that to their patients. And this gives some support for the ability to do that in a very safe way, but also in a very sustainable way for our patients.

The American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) hosted its 39th Annual Scientific Meeting from October 8-12, 2021, at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas.

According to ASRS, its 2021 scientific program offered attendees innovations in retina science, clinical practice, and surgery with 148 papers, 165 posters, 46 papers on demand, and 69 films, as well as a wide range of networking opportunities and the chance to exchange ideas and perspectives with peers.

Related Content: Additional ASRS 2021 Content | Conference Coverage | Ophthalmology