RETINAWS, an educational video-oriented course discussing complex vitreoretinal surgery, rare surgical cases, and unique surgical techniques, is directed by myself and Kirk H. Packo, MD, both retina specialists at Rush University Medical Center and Illinois Retina Associates in Chicago. Our course at the 2009 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL, drew retina specialists from more than 20 countries on five continents.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARVO
Frank Koch, MD (Frankfurt, Germany), gave a tribute to the late Prof. Yasuo Tano (a member of the 2007 Chicago RETINAWS course). Discussion ensued on the various ways of peeling the internal limiting membrane, after which Dr. Koch presented a video on the management of bleeding from sclerotomy site after trochar removal.

Dennis P. Han, MD (Milwaukee), discussed scenarios of troubleshooting instrumentation failures during retinal surgery. He also shared pearls for using intraocular gas injection for retinal detachment, including subretinal gas, macular folds, and gas in the anterior chamber.

Kirk Packo, MD, presented the challenges of retinal surgery in patients who have had LASIK surgery (eg, dislodged flaps) and offered advice to avoid this complication.

A video by Virgilio Morales-Canton, MD (Mexico City), demonstrated the management of dislocated refractive intraocular lens (IOL) in the vitreous cavity of a phakic patient. As refractive IOLs are becoming more common, it is important to become comfortable and accustomed to working with this situation. He also shared his video of severe open-globe injury with loss of retina and uveal tissue, which was followed by a panel discussion on the management of eyes with such a guarded prognosis.

Timothy W. Olsen, MD (Atlanta), presented a video on posterior-chamber IOL suture using an endoscope. He also showed video on the management of bilateral choroidal effusions and retinal detachment in a patient with significant hyperopia, a refraction of +16 D, and axial length of 14 mm.

Jose Garcia-Arumi (Barcelona, Spain) presented a video showing the removal of subretinal perfluoro–octane using a 50-gauge glass micropipette, with a discussion on how to avoid subretinal perfluorocarbon. Additionally, he showed the audience his video describing his management of massive choroidal hemorrhage after ocular surgery.

Dr. Bernd Kirchhof, MD (Cologne, Germany), presented videos showing his techniques for subretinal implantation of autologous choroid and retinal pigment epithelium sheets in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration. He highlighted the challenges involved and provided pearls to make this procedure more successful.

My own video showed peripheral vitreous shaving and endolaser treatment near the ora serrata in phakic patients using a 27-gauge chandelier light. The discussion related to this video was regarding how to avoid touching the lens and ways to make this maneuver easier.

The entire course is now available on www.eyetube.net.

FUTURE RETINAWS COURSES
We would like to extend an invitation to the readership of Retina Today to attend the next RETINAWS course at the 2009 American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting in San Francisco.

RETINAWS is listed as event number 518 and will be held on Monday, October 26th,Ê3:15 PM - 5:30 PM, RoomÊWest 3006.

Our faculty include: Stanley Chang, MD; Marco Codenotti, MD; Mathew W. MacCumber, MD, PhD; Carlos Mateo, MD; John S. Pollack, MD; and Hugo Quiroz-Mercado, MD.

Register soon; seating is very limited.

Kourous A. Rezaei, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center and practices at Illinois Retina Associates, S.C., in Harvey, IL. He can be reached at +1 708 596 8710; fax: +1 708 596 9820; email: karezaei@yahoo.com.