Ophthalmology
Globes in space: What would happen to our globes on the globe of Mars?
Many films have been made regarding life on alternative planets. With the Mars One mission approaching in 2023, there are high expectations regarding future interplanetary travel. The authors provide an ophthalmology perspective on what could happen to our eyes if...
Clinical relevance of the anatomic classification of neovascular age-related macular degeneration
The author explains why an OCT-based classification of neovascular AMD is needed and how these neovascular subtypes may help to predict patients’ long-term visual outcome. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative process involving the macula in...
Eye research: where next?
Eye research in the UK is underfunded relative to other areas of medical research and general awareness of sight loss and its prevention remains poor, messages that were reinforced in presentations and discussions during a recent research summit meeting in...
Should we move towards procedure-specific consent forms?
The consent process represents the patient’s acceptance of the information provided to them and an agreement to undergo an intervention as suggested by a health professional. Effective doctor-patient communication, ensuring the succinct delivery of the necessary points in a way...
Brexit, for richer, for poorer: prospects for post-withdrawal Britain
The people of the United Kingdom voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016, a referendum decision intended by a slim majority to restore national self-determination and achieve what many believed to be a...
‘The Way Forward’ champions clinicians as architects of patient-centred service redesign
The demographic time bomb poses the dilemma of how more healthcare can be delivered to the UK’s ageing population without commensurate growth in resources. The Way Forward Project provides a robust resource for clinical centres to better identify and implement...
25 years of OCT
David Huang first described optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 1991, in his seminal paper on the subject in Science. This method developed the work of others on ophthalmic interferometry, which essentially showed that measuring reflected light could be used to...
High quality retinal image grading and management service by the NetwORC UK
In 2004 a network of three ophthalmic reading centres in Belfast, London and Liverpool (known as NetwORC UK) was established to form the largest reading centre in Europe for the purpose of providing high quality grading of ophthalmic images for...
Optical coherence tomography – reinventing the eye examination
It has been 25 years since Huang et al. presented the first optical coherence tomography (OCT) images in Science [1]. With vast improvements in OCT technology over the years, it is now possible to acquire high-resolution cross-sectional images of the...
Embedding EMR for a complete transformation in user experience
Informatics and IT projects in the NHS have a history of being over budget, delivered late and not fulfilling the design brief. “But it doesn’t have to be that way,” believes Chris Canning, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Chief Clinical Information Officer...
Specialty-driven EMR for paperless clinical environment – insights for an informed choice
Deployment of specialty-driven (or specialty-specific) electronic medical record (EMR) systems across UK ophthalmology units appears to be growing rapidly at the expense of generic, multiuse digital technology packages. Experience further suggests that open source systems can play a significant role...
Principles of management
Whatever section of pathology is to blame and wherever it strikes, the aim of treatment is always the same. Find the cause if you can. Establish the effects of the cause. Halt the pathological process if you can. Reverse its...
