View Annual Report 2012 - University of Illinois College of Medicine ...

Left to right: Samuel Lee, MD, Joann Kang, MD, and Jose de la Cruz, MD
Laser-assisted surgery
benefits teaching mission
For Joann Kang, MD, Co-Chief
Resident at Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary,
performing cataract procedures using
the latest advance in laser-assisted
surgery is “a confidence builder.”
With the Alcon LenSx® Laser
System as a surgical tool, Dr. Kang can
hone her skills at the beginning of her
learning curve. “As someone in training,
parts of the surgery can be more difficult
than others. The laser can assist at those
points, making the rest of the surgery
easier and ensuring consistency from
procedure to procedure.”
The Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary is
the first academic center in the Midwest
to offer the laser-assisted technology
to patients and the first and only
center to provide access to the LenSx
system to its residents and fellows. The
technology, used for years in refractive
surgery, recently won U.S. Food and
Drug Administration approval for
cataract surgery.
“We’re changing the traditional
thinking,” says Jose de la Cruz, MD,
a member of the Cornea Service
and an early enthusiast for laserassisted
surgery. Typically, medical
centers reserve new technologies for
experienced faculty. “Having access to
the LenSx system allows our residents
and fellows to be more creative and to
progress in their skills that much more
quickly,” he explains.
The system offers decided
advantages for patients as well, including
precision, consistency and less time in
the operating room.
The laser provides real-time, 3D
images to guide the procedure and
allows the surgeon to make an incision
at the micron level. It also offers more
stability and accuracy as the surgeon
creates a perfect circular hole to enter,
cut the lens and remove it, then center
the intraocular lens. In traditional
cataract surgery — which still represents
the bulk of training for residents — a
manual blade is used.
The laser sends energy at an
extremely short burst known as a
femtosecond. For comparison, a
femtosecond is to a second what a
second is to 31.7 million years. “We
haven’t done clinical studies yet, but
One Vision 2012 11
in our surgeries we have noticed less
post-surgery inflammation and a
quicker recovery,” says Dr. de la Cruz,
Assistant Professor and Director of
the Millennium Park Eye Center, the
university’s downtown satellite clinic.
Cornea and Refractive Surgery
Fellow Samuel Lee, MD, appreciates
the opportunity the laser system gives
him to “think more innovatively.” From
his point-of-view, the LenSx levels the
playing field for cataract surgeons.
“We’re the younger generation of
ophthalmologists who will be doing
cataract surgery over the next 30
years,” says Dr. Lee. “It’s nice that this
technology isn’t just reserved for senior
surgeons. We’re the ones who will use it
for years to come.”
Top: Cross-sectional optical coherence tomography (OCT)
image showing where corneal incisions will be made and
in what pattern. Bottom: OCT image with the highlighted
treatment plan of the cataract.