not going to get the whole area. It's one series of injections, but it's a
bunch of little pokes.
"It's given me the opportunity to be a shoulder surgeon — to do big
surgeries through scopes and have patients not be in a lot of pain after-
ward," he says. "And patients who aren't in a lot of pain are able to do
more when it comes time for therapy. They're able to wear their slings
in the appropriate positions, so they don't hurt. That means what I do
during surgery stays in place for them, and they end up doing well."
9 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 9
iDose (Glaukos)
For glaucoma
patients, compli-
ance is a challenge
that never ends.
They may be
expected to self-
administer drops
every day for
decades.
That could change with the iDose implant, which can continuously
provide medication without drops for years at a time. "The question
everybody has is how long is it going to last," says Russell Swan, MD,
of Vance Thompson Vision in Bozeman, Mont. "Are we going to get 24
months or 36 months?"
Phase III trials are next for iDose, with a projected FDA-approval
date of 2021 or 2022.
A 3-arm Phase II study included both "slow-eluting" and "fast-elut-
ing" arms, in addition to a placebo, and "both showed between 32%
and 33% sustained IOP reduction from baseline over a 12-month peri-
od," says Dr. Swan.
