New York Retina Surgical Night

Neepa Shah, MD
Vitreoretinal Surgery Fellow
Weill Cornell Medical College

Dimos Mantopoulos, MD, PhD
Vitreoretinal Surgery Fellow
Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson, NJ Retina

The 5th Annual New York Retina Surgical Night took place earlier this week on Tuesday April 17, 2018. The event was held at Tavern on the Green in Central Park, Manhattan.

Numerous retina specialists and retina fellows from the broader New York City area attended the event. The guest speaker this year was John Kitchens, MD from Retina Associates of Kentucky, and the organizers were Ronald Gentile, MD and Richard Rosen, MD and Gennady Landa, MD of Mount Sinai of New York. Alcon organized the event.

Dr. Kitchens started his exciting talk by going through the evolution of vitreoretinal surgery. He initially discussed the first vitreous cutters that became commercially available more than 3 decades ago and showed how the devices and their instruments evolved over time. He also went through different microscopes and how they facilitated the advancement of vitreoretinal surgical visualization.

He then switched gears to highlight the breakthroughs in medical retina starting from 1999, the year he graduated from medical school. The time-line he presented nicely showed when breakthroughs in the field took place during his training.

Dr. Kitchens showed how the TAP study established the use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). He then spoke about the landmark studies for the anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF). Dr. Kitchens also shared stories of the excitement surrounding the initial use of bevacizumab at Bascom Palmer where he was a fellow.

After Dr. Kitchens’ keynote address, a number of fellows from NYC area programs presented rapid-fire surgical video cases to the audience followed by lively discussion.

Zaid Mammo from VRM/Columbia presented an interesting optic disc pit related macular schisis/hole repair involving ILM peeling. Talia Kaden from NYU presented a Two Forceps Technique for peeling tractional diabetic membranes. Amal Hussein from VRM/Columbia presented a case of an intraocular tumor that ended up being a myxoma. Michael Jansen showed a complex PVR detachment with peeling of subretinal and subfoveal bands.

Dimos Mantopoulos from NJ Retina then showed a Crystalens rescue as a secondary IOL technique. Ross Chod from NYEE showed a case of slippage during drainage with PFO injection under oil to rescue the case. Dov Sebrow from Columbia presented a case of pseudophakic fibrous downgrown and retinal detachment/incarceration in the setting of trauma. Alexander Barash showed miraculous recovery to 20/50 from NLP after a ruptured globe repair, and Neepa Shah from Cornell presented a chorioretinal biopsy for lymphoma.