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Editorial IGR 9-1
Dear Reader,
Greetings
This is my first Introduction as Chief Editor of IGR. I confess that it is daunting to follow Erik L. Greve, who founded the IGR and for more than two decades shaped its content and provided the vision for it to thrive.
From where are we coming?
For those who have entered glaucoma during the past decade, it may be difficult to imagine an Internet-less world and, particularly, how anyone in our profession could have functioned without it. But that is just how it was - for better or for worse in 1984 - when IGR first was delivered to our mailbox! The personal computer was a new tool for many then, that offered possibilities for word processing and time-saving spreadsheets. Many of our most exciting applications, including the Internet, had not yet even been envisioned. There were no mobile phones and a literature search usually was conducted with the assistance of a librarian. For those of us who were active in glaucoma at the time, we remember the earliest versions of the IGR as a content provider for Abstracts. It was a useful tool, and one that we looked forward to receiving.
Guided by Erik's vision, the IGR became more than just an Abstract provider, but also a source to learn of the general activities of the glaucoma community, initially focusing on European and North American glaucoma - as this information was most readily available.
The Internet emerged surprisingly and rapidly in the 1990s, and facilitated, by anyone who was connected to it, the discovery of new information with just the push of a key. It brought us closer together than ever before. Taking quick advantage of this emerging power of the Internet, the IGR facilitated the convergence of the global glaucoma community. If there was a glaucoma meeting of import, you could be assured that a Top-Ten paper from the meeting would be obtained and published along with a summary of their significance. Most importantly, the independent comments section was introduced in the late 1990s. Previously, comments had been provided largely by the Chief Editor alone. These independent comments changed the flavor of the journal from being solely a content provider to providing unbiased reviews. The reviewers who commented on selected content became the core of the journal.
More recently, the IGR has partnered with the WGA and its 77 member glaucoma societies from throughout the world. IGR provides updates on their activities and a focus for common interests. The founding of the WGA was a milestone for the worldwide glaucoma community, as for the first time it brought together glaucoma specialists, glaucoma industry partners, philanthropic organizations and patients. The IGR participated actively and reported in detail on the highly successful inaugural World Glaucoma Congress in Vienna in July 2005. And it will be even more active with the follow-up event, the World Glaucoma Congress Singapore, that will be held in July 2007.
To where are we going?
One may argue that our specialty, glaucoma, has undergone a division of cognitive labor. Both clinicians and scientists need to gain glaucoma mastery. However, it has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for a single person to know everything he/she should know about glaucoma. As we move forward, the IGR team will seek to broaden the scope of the independent comments by welcoming even a greater diversity of opinion. In addition, we will seek the opinion of those who do not usually occupy the same space that we do. The confrontation with a different view, logically enough, unquestionably should stimulate many of us to interrogate our own beliefs about the science of glaucoma and positions relating to the art of glaucoma more seriously. Finally, we believe that by providing our readers with even a single different opinion that the 'intelligence' of the entire glaucoma community will be enhanced.
I joined the IGR as Editor in 2002 and have worked close with Erik Greve and Caroline Geijssen to shape a future vision for the journal. For those of you who do not know Caroline, you should know that she is an internationally-recognized glaucoma specialist who has particular expertise in normal-tension glaucoma. Secondly, she is a highly efficient Managing Editor. Thirdly, she is a delightful collaborator with whom I now have worked for several years. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with both Erik and Caroline as the IGR moves forward.
During the past few years, Erik, Caroline and myself also have worked with Simon Bakker of Kugler Publications to conceptualize and realize an IGR glaucoma database. Not only will this be a database that can be searched online for publications, but each of the comments that have been published will also be searchable, certainly a unique aspect. Our goal is to have the database become a repository for all glaucoma publications. (See here for more information)
IOP Consensus
By the time you read this, the fourth WGA Global consensus on IOP will have concluded. For several months, consensus participants engaged in discussion and compromise in an e-room to reach our final goal of consensus points on matters relating to the basic science of IOP (e.g., what is the role of the uveoscleral outflow pathway?), measurement of IOP (e.g., should we be correcting for central corneal thickness?), variation of IOP (e.g., is it predictive?), epidemiology of IOP (e.g., is it different among various ethnic groups?), IOP as a risk factor (e.g., is it the quantity or quality of IOP that matters?), clinical trials of IOP (how best to report IOP results?), and target IOP in clinical practice (e.g., is it useful?). If you missed it, the derived consensus points will be recapped by co-Chairs Jamie Brandt, Ted Garway-Heath and Makoto Araie at the WGC in Singapore. Updated consensus points from each of the other three consensus meetings also will be presented there. (See also page 7.)
World Glaucoma Congress 2007
This issue of IGR will come out a few weeks before the WGC. The introduction in IGR 8-4 already mentioned several aspects of the program. Here we want to direct your attention to a series of one-hour expert debates and symposia. These debates and symposia cover some hot issues in glaucoma management. Participants are advised to register specifically for these debates and symposia as they will be conducted in smaller size rooms.
The topics are:
- Health Economics Symposium - Quality of Life (debate)
- Glaucoma Patient Organizations
- Molecular Biology of Glaucoma
- How early should we detect glaucoma (debate)
- Advocacy
- Poster discussion I
- Progression (debate)
- Bloodflow (debate)
- Pediatric Glaucoma
- Health Economics Symposium - Risk (debate)
- The place of combination treatment (debate)
- Basic research in glaucoma surgery
- Glaucoma in Asia
- Promulgation
- Poster discussion II
- SWAP/FDT (debate)
- Immune system in glaucoma
- ACG and imaging (debate)
- Does myopia affect glaucoma
- Glaucoma as neurodegenerative disease
- Normal Pressure Glaucoma (debate)
- Health Economics Symposium - Cost (debate)
- Medical versus laser treatment (debate)
- Glaucoma surgery beyond the status quo.
Quantity of Glaucoma Meetings - One Meeting
After the WGC-IGS merger we have the excellent situation of one biennial worldwide glaucoma meeting: The World Glaucoma Congress. This has been a goal of the WGA from its inception and it is gratifying that we have reached it. The principal implication is that we have a single high quality worldwide glaucoma meeting, supported by all Glaucoma Societies, Glaucoma Industry Members and Glaucoma Patient Organizations.
Guidelines
Apart from the Guidelines on Quality and Quantity of Glaucoma Meetings the WGA has published on the WGA website the Guidelines for Reporting and Publishing. Both Guidelines will be updated before the World Glaucoma Congress in Singapore.
In addition an ad hoc task committee of the WGA has completed Guidelines for the Reporting and Publishing of Glaucoma Surgery Results. These Guidelines have been reported on during the WGA Information and Planning Exchange meeting in Fort Lauderdale on May 6. The proposed text of these Guidelines will be sent out to all Glaucoma Societies of the WGA for comment. The report including comments will be subject of a special session at the World Glaucoma Congress in Singapore. The final document will appear in print in September. The Guidelines are a welcome addition to the WGA Consensus on Glaucoma Surgery. The two books constitute a great and much needed consensus based source of information on glaucoma surgery.
WGA news
The Board of Governors of the WGA now consists of the following members:
- Ivan Goldberg, president
- Robert Weinreb, immediate past president
- Roger Hitchings, past president
- Remo Susanna, president elect
- Erik Greve, vice president
- Caroline Greve-Geijssen, executive vice president
- Kuldev Singh, executive vice president elect
- Makoto Araie, member
- Jian Ge, member
- Franz Grehn, member
- Daniel Grigera, member
- Yoshi Kitazawa, member
- Theodore Krupin, member
- Dennis Lam, member, program chair
- Jeffrey Liebmann, member, program chair
As of April 2007, Kuldev Singh will be the Executive Vice President elect. He will be assisted in his function by three Associate EVPs: Tin Aung, Jonathan Crowston and Tarek Shaarawy. This EVP quartet will take over from Caroline Greve-Geijssen on January 1, 2008.
This issue of IGR
The Editors' Selection has again comments by well-known experts from all over the world on a wide range of subjects. Further, a thought-provoking Editorial by Kuldev Singh on 'Long-term IOP Fluctuation may not be as Important as previously Reported', and three top-ten reports on meetings respectively from the AGS, ANZGIG and on the Glaucoma section of the Asia-ARVO Meeting.
Robert N. Weinreb
