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SNEC
15TH ANNIVERSARY INTERNATIONAL MEETING
The
Singapore National Eye Centre will mark another milestone as we
celebrate our 15th Anniversary since inception in 1990 with a year-long
programme beginning with the SNEC 15th Anniversary International
Meeting which will be held from 3 to 6 September 2004. The Theme
of the Meeting: Clear Vision for All Ages, represents the mission
of every ophthalmologist.
There
will be a high quality scientific programme featuring symposia,
updates, masterclasses, skill transfer courses and live surgery
demonstration presented largely by our local ophthalmologists. Renowned
ophthalmologists from all over the world are also invited to speak
in this Meeting.
SNEC
will be uncovering some of our new and significant advances from
our major subspecialties that will impact the practice of ophthalmology.
Assoc
Prof Donald Tan
Associate
Professor Donald Tan is the Deputy Director of the SNEC and Senior
Consultant and Head of Cornea and External Eye Disease Service.
He is also Director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute and
holds dual appointment as associate professor at the Department
of Ophthalmology, National University of Singapore.
A/Prof
Donald Tan spearheaded the cornea development with the introduction
of new techniques of ocular surface transplantation and amniotic
membrane transplantation in Singapore since 1997. The SNEC is now
the leading Centre in these techniques in Asia besides Japan. In
collaboration with dental surgeons from the National Denetal Centre,
A/Prof Donald Tan led eye surgeons in SNEC to successfully complete
the revolutionary two-stage Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis Surgery
to enable a blind boy from Thailand to see. This is the first operations
of its kind in South-East Asia.
Lamellar
Keratoplasty (LK) refers to a surgical procedure in which the anterior
corneal layers, to a variable stromal layer depth are replaced with
donor tissue. The lamellar keratoplasty is used for the management
of various corneal disorders and it is fast re-emerging as a viable
option for corneal replacement surgery.
SNEC
has achieved new and significant advances in the area of LK and
recent innovative surgical techniques and tolls are now emerging
which allow corneal surgeons to perform LK with excellent visual
results. LK has distinctive advantages over penetrating keratoplasty:
sutures can be removed earlier, risks for wound dehiscence and graft
failure due to allograft rejection are reduced.
The
need for therapeutic lamellar surgery has become more pressing in
Asia, where tectonic and therapeutic indications for keratoplasty
remain major indications, and the ability of corneal surgeons to
perform “match and patch” grafts of various sizes and
shapes allows for treatment of complex disorders such as tectonic
lamellar surgery in Mooren’s ulceration and scleral melting
after adjunctive pterygium surgery. At the SNEC, a review of indications
for lamellar surgery show that 40% of LKs are performed for tectonic
indications, while a third are performed for optical reasons, and
a quarter for therapeutic indications.
Dr
Doric Wong
Dr
Doric Wong is a senior consultant ophthalmologist with the Vitreo-Retina
Department and the Cataract and Comprehensive Department of the
Singapore National Eye Centre. He also practises in the Department
of Ophthalmology of the Changi General Hospital. Dr Doric Wong spent
a year at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, New York,
where his focus was on medical retina. His practice encompasses
most aspects of surgical retina, specifically retinal detachments,
and PVR, diabetic retinopathy, macular surgery and trauma. In medical
retina, his interest is on choroidal neovascular disease and polypoidal
choroidal vasculopathy. Dr Doric Wong has been invited to lecture
and to teach extensively in the region.
A high-powered
resolution imaging for retina, the Optical Coherence Tomography
(OCT), is now available at the Singapore National Eye Centre. OCT
has matured as an investigative tool in ophthalmology over the last
few years. It now provides a new and reliable and reproducible way
of visualisng diseases of the retina, providing information otherwise
not visible through other means. A highly detailed cross-section
view of the retina can be recorded using infra-red light and special
acquisition techniques. An image akin to one using a microscope
to examine a slice of the retina is obtained from a patient’s
eye without being invasive. Subtle changes of the retina, and its
relationships with structures above and below it can be visualized
and documented, helping doctors to understand disease processes
which affect the retina and monitor changes with treatment.
The
Femtosecond Laser Technology is fundamentally a new technology utilizing
the fine precision of a femtosecond laser as a surgical tool and
has applications in a host of eye surgeries including its ability
to laser as a corneal flap for LASIK surgery to correct myopia,
perform corneal transplantation with precise accuracy and also perform
glaucoma surgery.
The femtosecond laser system has the ability to perform accurate
but gentle surgery on the cornea without fist having to apply heavy
suction forces and deforming the natural shape of the cornea. The
potential of this technology lies in the co-development of new corneal
transplantation procedures which may result in improved safety and
visual outcomes in patients blind from corneal diseases.
For
further information, please contact:
Ravi Chandran
Corporate Communications Executive
Singapore National Eye Centre
Tel: 6 322 8394
E-mail: ravi@snec.com.sg
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Copyright
© 2004. Singapore National Eye Centre. All rights reserved.
