Coordinators
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NZ-NEC Research and Development Manager
Department of Ophthalmology
Phone +64 9 373 7599 ext 86337
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NZ-NEC Chief Administrator
Department of Ophthalmology
Phone +64 9 373 7599 ext 86712
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2013 NZ-NEC Seminar Series
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The 2013 NZ-NEC Seminar Series is kindly sponsored by
Alcon.
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Professor Gordon Dutton, Emeritus Professor of Vision Science, Glasgow
Caledonian University
A practical approach to identifying and managing impairment of vision due to damage
to the brain.
Visual impairment due to damage to the brain in children comes in many guises and
interferes with learning, social interaction and getting around. Damage can impair:
- Visual input and primary visual processing. This can cause reduced acuity, contrast
perception, visual field impairment and perception of movement.
- Dorsal stream function. This causes impaired ability to give attention to (and thus
see) components of a crowded visual scene and impaired visual guidance of movement
(optic ataxia) of the upper and/or lower limbs.
- Ventral stream dysfunction. This causes impaired ability to recognise people and/or
objects and text.
- Accommodation.
- Eye movements.
A structured approach embracing these concepts will be presented.
Wednesday 16th January 2013, 5.30pm.
Lecture theatre 501-110.
Dr Stuart D Cook, PhD, FRCOphth Consultant Ophthalmologist,
Bristol Eye Hospital, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Ophthalmology, University of Bristol,
Associate Dean, Severn Deanery, United Kingdom
The place of immunosuppression in anterior segment disease.
A number of systemic conditions associated with significant anterior segment pathology
can lead to blindness. These conditions can be modulated by immunosuppression.
Since 2001, over 180 patients have been treated in Bristol Eye Hospital. The clinical
features, differential diagnoses, treatment strategies and outcomes for three groups
of patients will be presented. These include; peripheral ulcerative keratitis; refractory
allergic kerato-conjunctivitis and ocular cicatricial pemphigoid.
Drug side effects, associated morbidities and mortalities will be presented for
each group of patients with reference to the relevant literature. The organisation
and support for this model of clinical care will be discussed.
Since 1990 Dr Cook has worked as a Consultant Ophthalmologist in the Bristol Eye
Hospital with sub-specialisation in corneal disease. His clinical and research interests
include herpes viruses and the eye, microbial and acanthamoeba keratitis, corneal
transplantation, managing post-transplant astigmatism, computerised corneal topography
and ocular immunosuppression amongst others. These interests have led to more than
60 published papers and chapters.
Dr Cook was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in 1994
and subsequently served as Vice President between December 2000 and May 2005 and
Senior Vice President during the last year. He has been actively involved in the
delivery of training in Ophthalmology since 1994 and chaired the Training Committee
of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He was appointed Associate Dean with responsibility
for quality management, in the Severn Deanery in 2008.
Wednesday, 30 January, 5.30pm.
Lecture Theatre 503-024.
Consent to Surgery - Ethical and legal complexities and constraints
Valid consent to any surgical intervention protects the patient from the surgeon,
and the surgeon from the patient. It is usually only when things go wrong that the
validity of the consent is called into question. The arguments may begin in the
post-op review clinic and end in the High Court. The process of taking consent must
be robust enough to protect all parties. My presentation aims to help you to improve
your practice by discussing:
- the conditions necessary for valid consent
- the constraints on achieving valid consent
- ethical imperatives
- legal implications and case law
- Medical Council Guidelines
15 February 2013, 5–6pm.
Conference Room, Domain Lodge, 1 Boyle Crescent, Grafton.
Download a PDF of the seminar flyer(216.6KB PDF)
Does conventional amblyopia treatment improve more than visual acuity?
Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of amblyopia treatment in anisometropic
children aged 4-7 years, focussing on binocular outcomes and cortical processing.
Methods: To assess the efficacy of conventional amblyopia therapy, measurements
of best corrected visual acuity, stereopsis, contrast sensitivity and global motion
perception using random-dot kinematograms were conducted on a subset of 22 children
with anisomtropic amblyopia before and after treatment. These results were compared
to a control cohort of 28 children.
Results: In children with anisometropic amblyopia conventional therapies (glasses,
occlusion or penalisation) successfully improved BCVA by more than nine letters
(p<0.001) and also significantly improved contrast sensitivity in the amblyopic
eye (p<0.0001). Changes in contrast sensitivity were related to improvement in BCVA
in the amblyopia eye. Monocular treatments improved stereopsis when measured with
both Frisby (p<0.0001) and StereoFly (p<0.0001) stereo tests but not with the TNO
stereo test (p=0.1). Global motion perception improved in the amblyopic eye with
conventional therapy (p=0.0004).
Conclusion: Conventional amblyopia treatment can improve visual acuity, contrast
sensitivity and global motion perception. The improvement in stereopsis is dependent
on the type of test used.
Cross-sectional study on prevalence and causes of childhood visual impairment in
Auckland.
Childhood blindness accounts for 4% of all blindness in the world. This amounts
to approximately 1.4 million blind children worldwide. This does not take into account
the other 17.6 million children who have low vision. Up to 60% of children suffering
from visual impairment are avoidable.
The aetiology of blindness in children varies greatly between differing socioeconomic
regions. Therefore, region specific information is required to tailor to the needs
of blind children and eradicate preventable blindness.
Charts of 1185 students enrolled with the Blind and Low Vision Education Network
New Zealand were studied. Only children under the age of 16 and currently residing
in Auckland were included in this review.
This study aimed to investigate childhood visual impairment in Auckland, in particular:
- Prevalence
- Aetiology
- Avoidable causes
Friday, 5th April, 4.00–5.00 pm. Drinks and Nibbles to follow.
Conference Room, Domain Lodge, 1 Boyle Crescent, Grafton.
