Simulator Helps Choose Best Refractive Surgery

An optics visual simulator could resolve the ongoing debate over which surgical laser refractive technique is best suited for a specific patient to ensure long-term visual acuity.

The crx1T adaptive optics visual simulator enables doctors to simulate the effect of various refractive techniques, in a totally non-invasive and reversible manner, and choose the optical or surgical correction that will provide the best combination of visual acuity and patient comfort. In addition to replicating the outcome of refractive surgery, participants will be able to replicate the visual effects of aberrations in another's person's vision--literally seeing through some else's eyes.

In independent studies, two separate research teams used the crx1 to induce and correct for higher-order (coma, trefoil, and spherical) aberrations, in addition to correcting for regular optical defects (defocus and astigmatism). Researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo (Brazil) and the Cole Eye Institute (Cleveland, OH, USA) performed a study showing that simulating the correction of higher-order aberrations in varying degrees can help clinicians improve overall visual acuity and patient comfort when choosing between different refractive surgery techniques.

Dr. Jean Luc Nhuyen Koa, from the Clinique de la Vision (Paris, France), used the same device to perform postoperative evaluations of patients presenting above average preoperative normal and higher-order aberrations. In both cases, amelioration is based on the best visual acuity that subjects could achieve with the best possible spectacle correction versus that of simulated refractive surgery. The studies were presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), held in Ft. Lauderdale (FL, USA) during May 2007. The crx1T is made by Imagine Eyes (Orsay, France).

The implication for patients could be increased confidence in the ability of ophthalmologists to choose the safest surgical technique possible, and thus an increased willingness to undergo laser surgery.


Related Links:
Federal University of São Paulo
Clinique de la Vision
Imagine Eyes