17 Apr Verion Image Guide Improves Cataract Surgery
The Verion Image Guided System Refernce Unit and Digital Marker
The Verion image guide system is now available at The Eye Center of Northern Colorado, P.C. We are the 8th eye clinic in the world to receive the Verion image guide. This is a true blessing for our patients who need laser cataract surgery.
This honor has been earned by years of commitment to improving the quality of outcomes, including laser cataract surgery, for our patients and further establishes the Eye Center of Northern Colorado, P.C. as one of the world leaders in quality cataract care. Verion image guide systems will help take our clinic to the highest level of laser cataract surgery care available in the world.
Verion Image Guided Integration
Several months ago we announced that we had been one of the first in the world to make the Centurian vision system available to our patients for safer cataract surgery. The Verion image guide system adds to this offering by creating a seamless link between the Centurion, the LensX laser cataract surgery system, and our clinic. This will increase safety and improve the quality and accuracy of cataract surgery for our patients. Click the link to see how Verion image guide systems improve quality.
What is the Verion Image Guided System?
The Verion image guided system consists of a reference unit, and two digital markers- one on the Lens and the other on the microscope. The Verion reference unit sits in the clinic. All of your data is entered into the reference unit and the data travels electronically from your surgical preop, to the laser and then the microscope on the day of surgery, and then back to the Verion reference unit with all your postoperative data. This makes the process a closed loop, decreasing the chances for human error that can occur when data is entered by hand multiple times.
Verion Astigmatism
The Verion reference unit measures your corneal astigmatism through a sophisticated algorithm and takes an HD photo of your eye at the same time. This is very important because it matches Verion astigmatism to the picture of your eye. The data is used during surgery to make sure that your astigmatism treatment is placed at the correct location on your eye. This is a major breakthrough in surgical accuracy.
Verion Treatment Planning
The Verion reference unit contains formulas used to determine the correct intraocular lens algorithms to decide how much toric IOL or corneal arc to place to treat your astigmatism. The algorithms are based on the data from many surgeons.
Your surgeon plans you treatment on the Verion reference unit, designing a custom treatment for your eye.
The Verion reference unit screen shows exactly where to place incisions, which IOL to use, where to place astigmatism arcs, and how much toric lens is needed. The surgeon can use slide bars on the screen to adjust how much astigmatism is corrected by the toric IOL vs. the corneal arcs to give the best result.
The fact that all the data is contained in one system minimizes the chances for human data entry error in transcription by the surgeon or recognition by a nurse in surgery.
Verion Laser Cataract Surgery
This data and precise plan are sent electronically to the Verion digital marker mounted on the LensX laser. The treatment plan is automatically populated into the LensX decreasing the chances for human error at this step. The plan is shown on the large flat screen of the Verion digital marker on the LensX for confirmation before starting.
In the past, I centered your treatment on your dilated pupil. The Verion shows me on the flat screen the stored data from the reference unit outlining the center of your un-dilated pupil and the center of your visual axis (the center of your system when you are looking right at a light). Treatment centration can affect the optical quality of your outcome.
Cyclo-Torsion and the Verion Image Guide
Our eyes rotate a bit when we lie down and then rotate back to where they started when we sit up. We call this cyclo-torsion. This can cause problems with astigmatism correction. If we measure the location of your astigmatism with you seated and make a plan for that spot, but your eye rotates when you lay down for surgery, then the treatment would be in the wrong spot.
Before our Verion image guide, we placed marks, by hand, on your eye with a surgical marker with you seated and then noticed how much they rotated when you lay down to help avoid this problem. This was helpful when it was the best we could do, but opportunities for additive human errors in the process were evident.
Verion systems do a much better job at correcting for cyclo-torsion. It registers your treatment to the HD image from the reference unit. The LensX laser microscope looks down at your eye prior to your laser cataract surgery and notices anatomic features on you cornea, iris, and limbal vessels. It compares the same features to those on the HD images from the treatment plan sent from Verion reference unit. It then rotates the treatment plan until it matches your eye. This registers the plan and your eye so the treatment is placed where it belongs.
Toric IOL Guidance from Verion During Catract Surgery
Verion Imaged Guided Laser Cataract Surgery
There is a separate digital marker on the operating microscope. The image in the microscope is compared to the HD images and plan from the reference unit and it is rotated so the images are referenced and match. As I operate, I can see the elements of the plan projected onto your eye. It shows the location of incision, how the toric lens should be oriented, and where to center the ReSTOR lens for the best optics after surgery. It looks like something out of the Iron Man movies.
The wireless footpedal from the Centurian vision system for cataract surgery that we use speaks wirelessly to Verion digital markers on the microscope so I can switch the to the views that will be most helpful for different parts of the surgery on the fly during your cataract removal by slight movements with my foot on the pedal.
After the surgery, the data from the Centurian is stored and can be pushed electronically back to our Verion reference unit. This completes the data loop. Surgeons can access this data to notice which settings have proven the most safe and effective for patients. The reference unit analyzes all this data to customize the IOL formulas and improve the accuracy of IOL selection for future intraocular lens choices.
If you have any further questions about our Verion image guide, and how it can improve laser cataract surgery, please schedule a time to meet with us at the clinic or post a comment below.
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