Svjetlost Eye Clinic Showcases Top Surgical Skills at This Year's "Live Surgery" Symposium

ZAGREB, October 29, 2016 – For the fourth year in a row, a team of ophthalmic surgeons from Svjetlost Eye Clinic treated an audience of several thousand ophthalmologists in Zagreb and Milan to a remarkable surgical experience: live eye surgery. Four top surgeons and five close-up surgical procedures, performed in parallel in two operating rooms in just about 60 minutes, almost half an hour less than the allotted time. That, in short, was the demanding and exciting competition for the Best Live Surgery Award, held this Saturday as part of the world’s largest video surgery congress, “Videocatarattarefrattiva Milano.” You can watch the surgeries HERE.

The Svjetlost surgical team, made up of Prof. Nikica Gabrić, Prof. Iva Dekaris, Assist. Prof. Ratimir Lazić and Dr. Vesna Cerović, once again demonstrated exceptional surgical skill and the use of the most advanced techniques and methods in ophthalmology. The Svjetlost ophthalmologists performed five procedures, presenting lens implantation methods for patients who are not suitable for laser vision correction (implantation of a phakic toric ICL, Prof. Nikica Gabrić), implantation of Symfony lenses as a solution for presbyopia and cataract (Dr. Vesna Cerović), implantation of PanOptix lenses, which reduce dependence on reading glasses after cataract surgery (Prof. Nikica Gabrić), the most advanced method of lamellar corneal transplantation (UT-DSAEK, Prof. Iva Dekaris), and a method for the surgical repair of a macular hole (vitrectomy, Assist. Prof. Ratimir Lazić).

On the same day, the 12th Congress of the Croatian Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery was held in Zagreb. Several hundred ophthalmologists at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb and several thousand participants at the symposium in Milan, where an expert jury evaluated the surgeries of five ophthalmology teams, were able to follow the demanding procedures live. The surgeries were shown with a highly magnified view of the eye, and every movement of the surgeons’ hands was observed and evaluated. For an hour and a half, with no editing or cuts, the surgeons performed complex microsurgical procedures on the eye and answered expert questions from the international committee in Milan.

“This is an important ophthalmology event on a global scale, unique in the world. This is the fourth time Svjetlost has competed for the Best Live Surgery Award, which makes us record holders. Although we were the best last year and won the ophthalmology Oscar, I believe we were even better this year. My team performed five procedures that were supposed to take 90 minutes in about 60 minutes. I finished my surgery in four minutes, and everyone else on the team also finished well ahead of the expected time. But quality is what matters most, so we paid much more attention to that than to time itself. We are waiting for the jury’s decision in Milan. As every year, the competition was strong, and simply being in such respected company is already a reward in itself,” said Prof. Gabrić.

Who will win this year’s “ophthalmology Oscar,” the Best Live Surgery Award, will be announced on Monday, when the jury makes its decision. The award is currently held by Svjetlost Eye Clinic, whose team was named the best last year. Alongside the Svjetlost team from Zagreb, the Best Live Surgery competition included teams from the CAMO clinic in Milan (the clinic of the symposium organizer and refractive surgery pioneer Prof. Lucio Buratto), the Marienplatz eye clinic in Munich, the Laser Surgery Center in Cuneo, Italy, and an eye hospital in Athens.

In addition to the five surgeries performed for the Best Live Surgery Award, five more procedures were performed at Svjetlost by five top surgeons from Croatian public and private clinics. These procedures were broadcast live at the 12th Congress of the Croatian Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, attended by more than 300 ophthalmologists from the region and beyond. From early morning until late evening, participants heard the latest news in ophthalmology, practiced surgical skills in a wet lab and followed live surgery broadcasts.

During the Zagreb congress, two awards from the Prof. Ljiljana Zergollern Čupak and Prof. Krešimir Čupak Foundation were presented for the best work by young ophthalmologists. The awards went to Dr. Vernesa Sofić Drino from Svjetlost Sarajevo and Dr. Marijana Bilen Babić from Rijeka University Hospital Centre.

Watch the Live Surgery report here:
HRT Dnevnik 3