March 2017

The art of cornea in Brisbane
BY PROFESSOR CHARLES MCGHEE*
This year’s highly successful and well-attended
Australia and New Zealand Cornea Society
(ANZCS) conference was held in Brisbane on
the day before the commencement of the ARVO-
Asia conference. The venue was the beautiful
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at
Southbank and the one-day conference attracted
almost 100 ophthalmologists, eye-bankers and
those interested in cornea and visual sciences.
The programme was fast-paced but with ample
time for discussion. It covered the whole gamut
of corneal disease in one day – rather than
over the normal annual two-day meeting – so
delegates could also attend ARVO-Asia. Sessions
were divided into sections that included updates,
new investigations, state-of-the-art techniques,
controversies and the annual Doug Coster Lecture.
The principal guest speakers were Dr Mike
Straiko (USA) and Professor Shigeru Kinoshita
(Japan).
The global trend towards Descemet’s membrane
endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) was highlighted
by a number of speakers, but particularly in
a beautifully presented “DMEK masterclass”
presented by Dr Straiko. It was quite clear that in
the USA and Australasia, however, the majority
of endothelial keratoplasties are still successfully
carried out using the DMEK forerunner, Descemet’s
stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty
(DSAEK). The majority of tissue for DSAEK is now
being prepared by eye banks.
A simple, small, central descemetorhexis without
a transplant, ie. allowing the defect to heal by
sliding of peripheral endothelium, potentially
enhanced by application of Rho-kinase (ROCK)
inhibitors, was highlighted by Dr Greg Maloney
(NSW). Dr Maloney also introduced the audience
to the osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (OOKP)
programme currently being established in Sydney,
illustrated by the first few treated cases.
Professor Stephanie Watson (Sydney) presented the
compelling advantages of contributing to a corneal
collagen crosslinking (CXL) registry for keratoconus,
the increasingly well-established treatment for early,
progressive keratoconus. While Dr Con Petsoglou
(Sydney) discussed the major development of the
Australian Ocular BioBank in Sydney.
In a landmark Doug Coster Lecture, Professor
Kinoshita discussed the long journey from early
laboratory studies, via animal models, to upcoming
human trials of endothelial cell transplantation
and the utility of ROCK inhibitors. In an academic
tour-de-force Professor Kinoshita outlined
the immediate clinical horizon for endothelial
dysfunction using cultured endothelial cells and
topical agents. In a unique time of rapid changes
in lamellar endothelial keratoplasty, it is now
entirely conceivable that treatment by injection of
cultured cells and application of topical agents will
supplant more invasive surgical techniques within
a decade.
Professor Kinoshita continued in a separate
lecture to highlight the medical and surgical
management of potentially devastating ocular
surface disorders such as Stevens-Johnson
syndrome (SJS).
Dr Graeme Pollock (Melbourne) provided
an annual update of Australasian Eye Banks’
(EBAANZ) activity while his colleague Dr Prema
Finn highlighted key elements of DMEK tissue
selection.
One of the annual highlights of the conference,
the Australian Corneal Graft Registry annual
report, was delivered by Flinders University
research associate Dr Miriam Keane.
The meeting ended with a clinical movie
competition and a new section with interactive
live polling of controversial topics. As always
the mood was upbeat, informal, interactive and
extremely cordial. The fabulous GOMA location
at Southbank, was convivial and refreshing. The
conference dinner in the long gallery was a wellattended
and a most-enjoyably-friendly ending to
a cutting-edge conference. ▀
* Professor Charles McGhee is Maurice Paykel Chair of
Ophthalmology at the University of Auckland and a consultant
ophthalmologist. His clinical interests include corneal disease
and transplantation, and complex anterior segment surgery.
He is the present chair of the ANZ Cornea Society.
Dr Graeme Pollock and Professors Shigeru Kinoshita and Charles
McGhee at the ANZCS dinner
ANZCS diary dates
RANZCO’S Cornea Special Interest Group,
chaired by Professor Charles McGhee, met the
evening before the conference to discuss the
development of the society and to review the
constitution and location of future conferences.
It was provisionally agreed that the ANZCS
conference would rotate to Sydney (2018),
Adelaide (2019), Perth (2020) and Auckland/
Queenstown (2021) to continue this highly
collaborative cornea and eyebank meeting
originally developed by Professor Douglas Coster
in the 1980’s.
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