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Editorial IGR 7-1
Dear Reader,
This special issue of IGR is dedicated to the World Glaucoma Congress (WGC) of the WGA. It is not a minor feat to have all the world's (more than 60) Glaucoma Societies together for the first time. The WGC is by no means only for the members of Glaucoma Societies. It is first of all a didactic meeting that aims at every ophthalmologist or related professional who takes care of glaucoma patients. We should not forget that glaucoma is the second cause of blindness worldwide. The goal of the WGC is to update and improve the knowledge of the ophthalmologist of glaucoma management and by doing so, to improve glaucoma care on a worldwide scale.
To reach this goal, the WGA has given special attention to the
concept of the WGC. The result is a congress where well-known experts
from all over the world will discuss the state of the art of the spectrum of
glaucoma diagnosis and treatment through optimized didactic presentations.
These presentations will be short, to the point, touching fundamentals, but
also extensive, interactive and practical. In addition, translational
science will be the subject of four symposia. The organizers of the WGC are
privileged by having the support of an all-star faculty. Various types of
discussion will be entertained to put statements into perspective. A special
feature will also be the session on the recent global WGA Consensus Meeting
on Glaucoma Surgery of Open Angle Glaucoma. Posters will get deserved
attention through a Poster Walkthrough, Poster Session and Poster
Recognition. Quality levels will be guarded according to the principles of
Evidence Based Glaucoma, through disclosure and through evaluation.
It is quite gratifying to the editors of IGR to see that the WGA efforts to
create a worldwide cooperation, have resulted in the World Glaucoma Congress
as cooperation between Glaucoma Societies, started already in the early
nineties when AGS, EGS and JGS decided to join forces in the publication of
IGR (Glaucoma Abstracts International in those days). In the late nineties,
this cooperation was expanded to many of the larger regional Glaucoma
Societies. Now, in 2005, the WGA has sixteen Glaucoma Society members,
several of them representing many more national Glaucoma Societies (e.g.,
Europe has 29 national Glaucoma Societies). The WGA is fortunate that at
the WGC communication lines with all known national Glaucoma Societies
have
been started. Truly the WGC will be a real global event. The credo of the
WGA after all is to involve all those active in glaucoma.
The WGA has a favourable experience with the cooperation with its Glaucoma Industry Members in various activities of the organization. This cooperation is expected to become even more effective in the coming years, now that the basic organizational plan of the WGA has been realized, which in turn will lead to the desired quality levels that have been established in the global WGA Code of Practice, - Guidelines on Reporting and Publishing, and - Guidelines on Quality and Quantity of Glaucoma Meetings. (see WGA website for more information)
The last and certainly not the least of the three legs on which the WGA stands has been the formation of a global Glaucoma Patient Organization, that will coordinate its activities in concert with the WGA. The global Glaucoma Patient Organization is still in its infancy. The WGA believes that a strong Glaucoma Patient Organization will be a necessary partner to the WGA and looks forward to a growing interaction between the two organizations.
Closely related to the WGC is an article by Rockwood et al. in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (2004; 171: 1443-1445; no abstract in IGR) in which they describe the incidence of and risk factors for nodding off at scientific sessions (brought to our attention in the American Journal of Ophthalmology). Nodding off expressed as the number of single episodes per lecture ranged from 3 to 24! Wow! Speaker-related risk factors included monotonous tone, tweed jacket, losing place in the lecture, poor slides, failure to speak in the microphone, postprandial time of the lecture and dim lighting. Be careful speakers: wear the right jacket! Or perhaps we should have drama-classes at the WGC.
Editors' Selection
A few more words about this issue: the Editors' Selection in this issue is longer than usual. It happened to be so that this WGC issue coincided with a larger number of selected papers for discussion. Really a pleasant present for both the WGC and IGR and also a demonstration of the vitality of glaucoma research. The topics discussed in the Editors' Selection range from patient expectations and risk of motor vehicle accidents to scleral stiffness and oxidative stress in the lateral geniculate nucleus; from IOP decrease while aging, CCT and lamina cribrosa thickness to OCT-goniometry and even OCT guided surgery; from artificial intelligence to E G P S; from pseudoexfoliation as a risk factor to uveal effusion in angle closure; from patents on neuroprotective drugs to CME after prostaglandin analogues; and, yes, the last link between the mechanical and the vascular pathogenesis theory: endothelin. Again: there is so much going on in glaucoma. What delight for the avid glaucomatologist!
Fitness
Finally: it is questionable whether being an ophthalmologist is good for your health. Some 50% of 700 colleagues reported pain in the neck, upper body or lower back! Low back pain was the most frequently reported problem. Fifteen percent considered themselves more or less limited by their musculoskeletal disorders (American Journal of Ophthalmology 2005; 139: 179-181; no abstract in IGR). There was no control group of other specialists, or of non-medical professionals. Nor do we know where glaucomatologists fall in this group. However, the message is: if you want to survive at a high level of quality of life as an ophthalmologist, you have to exercise. And that also happens to be good for your IOP and of course for your whole cardio-vascular system. So there we go: to the woods, on the skis, in the swimming pool. Enjoy the fitness and with it this issue of IGR.
Erik L. Greve
