Is the long awaited transition to bits and bytes in the ophthalmic operating room upon us? Experts put the world on notice about the power of digitalization at an IME Symposium during ESCRS in Vienna.
Long have the resident pundits and prophets of the ophthalmic world trumpeted the advent of ophthalmology’s digital age. And for just as long doctors have patiently waited for these promises to come to fruition.
Automation, artificial intelligence, intraoperative imaging and seamless integration of the many moving parts of the modern operating room have all been dangled in front of the modern ophthalmologist hungry for more efficiency and efficacy in the clinic. But in 2023, has the digital operating room’s time finally come?
According to a world-class panel of experts at the 43rd Annual Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS 2023), it has. In a symposium entitled Digital Operating Room IME Forum: Integrating the Digital Operating Room into Future Practice, ESCRS President Prof. Oliver Findl (Austria), President-elect Prof. Filomena Ribeiro (Portugal), Prof. David Chang (USA) and Dr. Kjell Gundersen (Norway) dove into the prospects – and pitfalls – of what lies ahead for cataract and refractive surgeons in this brave new world.
Any discussion of the digital operating room must invariably begin with defining what has hitherto proven to be a loosely-defined concept. This was Dr. Gundersen’s task, and he took up the mantle after a rousing round of opening remarks from Prof. Findl.
Prof. Gundersen’s talk focused on the current digital solutions available to surgeons. After he explained the boundaries to achieving the elusive paperless workflow, it was on to intraoperative tools. “The core element in the operating room will be your 3D setup,” he explained, pointing to solutions like Alcon’s NGENUITY and ZEISS’s ARTEVO 800.
Telemedicine and surmounting regulatory hurdles are also a massive part of the modern digital operating room for Prof. Gundersen, and there is still work to be done on all counts. But for him, the value of making the leap has the potential to affect nearly every aspect of a surgeon’s work, including the surgeon’s own physical health, patient outcomes and even the environmental impact of the profession.
Prof. Filomena Ribeiro agreed and with her turn at the podium, she described just how a digital workflow translates into better patient outcomes. According to Prof. Ribeiro, the biggest advantages are borne by digitizing patient records and integrating medical devices into every aspect of the workflow with this data.
For devices, technologies like intraoperative OCT and image-guided cataract surgery are taking center stage as the poster children for digital integration of the modern operating room. Furthermore, Prof. Ribeiro went over several procedures where these innovations proved invaluable. She also noted that educating staff is perhaps the greatest task in making the switch to digital, but that it is well worth it in the end. “Making this transition is really an improvement for optimizing workflow efficiency and patient outcomes,” she summarized.
Outside of the presentations, there was plenty in the way of audience interaction, with audience and panel members jousting over data privacy, accessibility and the role of artificial intelligence. In many ways, this interactivity is what made this IME Forum so valuable – and emblematic of what is transpiring in ophthalmology.
Like any other tidal shift in eye care, the changes being wrought by digitalization must involve a conversation among specialists around the globe. And thanks to sessions spearheaded by the field’s foremost experts like this at ESCRS 2023 in Vienna, that is exactly what is happening.
Editor’s Note: The 43rd Annual Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS 2023) was held on 8-12 September 2023. Reporting for this story took place during the event.
