Santa Barbara - August is Cataract Awareness Month. Cataracts reduce the vision of tens of millions of people around the world. It is especially crippling to the populations for developing countries where it is estimated that over 17.6 million people suffer from severe blindness due to treatable cataracts.

TrueVision Systems, the leader in 3D visualization for cataract surgery, has teamed with Mission Eyes Network and the Christian Ophthalmology Society to record for the first time a 3D HD video for teaching and training of the surgical technique called "Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery" (MSICS).

Dr. Glenn Strauss, chief eye surgeon on the Mercy Ships and Dr. Tim Fincher, Ophthalmic surgeon of Dallas Texas, traveled to the Republic of Benin in West Africa equipped with a TrueVision system to record a 3D HD video of the MSICS procedure for training and educational purposes.
MSICS potentially offers an efficient and practical surgical solution to the growing problem of cataract blindness. Similar to the traditional extra capsular cataract technique, MSICS has been shown to be comparable to phacoemulsification in outcomes and for many developing countries has become the preferred technique, especially for advanced mature cataracts. It has shown to be very effective in allowing a high volume, low cost option in an environment of extreme need without expensive, high-tech instrumentation.

Not only are there not enough surgeons trained to fulfill the global need for the high-volume procedure but there are not enough resources to train surgeons, clinicians and technicians. This is where 3D surgical training helps.

"For cataract blindness in the developing world, manual, sutureless small-incision cataract surgery is the most cost effective method that must be increasingly adopted worldwide," stated David F. Chang, MD. "For scalable skills transfer, 3D video can play a major role in educating and training more surgeons."

"Surgeons in the United States need to be trained in this vital procedure. We were able to get the first 3D HD video ever of this procedure with TrueVision's help." said Glenn Strauss, MD, Senior VP of Healthcare for Mercy Ships.

Timothy Fincher, MD added, "We were able to debut this video at the Christian Ophthalmology Society meeting on July 30, 2009 in Hilton Head where it was a great success. I think 3D video is better than the wet lab for teaching this method and many other procedures."

About Cataracts

A cataract is an opacity or cloudiness of the natural crystalline lens of the eye. Surgical removal of the lens may be necessary if visual loss becomes significant. The cloudy lens is replaced with an artificial lens, called an implant, at the time of surgery. In the United States, over three million (and growing) cataract surgeries are performed each year.

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