The future
Some exciting new technologies are on the horizon. I'm especially
hopeful about devices that feed glaucoma medication into the eye over
the long term, without the need for drops. Glaukos is in Phase II with
the iDose, a microscopic canister containing anti-glaucoma medication.
You inject the canister into the anterior chamber and it elutes medica-
tion. I will be presenting one-year data for the iDose at the upcoming
meeting of the American Glaucoma Society. Ocular Therapeutix is test-
ing an intracanilicular device that similarly releases medication for 90
days. That company is also testing an intracameral device that accom-
plishes the same thing. It could be that we'll implant these items along
with cataract surgery or stent surgery. If these developments come to
pass, we'll be doing surgery on an even greater percentage of glaucoma
patients.
Glaucoma threatens the sight of around 60 million people in the
world, with 3 million of those in the United States. As 10,000 Baby
Boomers are joining the ranks of Medicare every day, this disease will
become more prevalent. In the past, a large number of these patients
would have been destined for low or no vision, but it's now possible
and economically feasible to prevent that fate for most of these
patients.
OSM
M a r c h 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 5 5
Dr. Sarkisian (steven-sarkisian@dmei.org) serves as the Glaucoma Fellowship
Director at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, and as a clinical
professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma. He has served as a
clinical investigator for several minimally invasive glaucoma devices. He is the
author of Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery, a Practical Guide.
