This is a supplement to EyeWorld Magazine.
Issue link: https://supplements.eyeworld.org/i/1499043
| SUPPLEMENT TO EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS, MAY 6, 2023 Going beyond: Unique technologies designed to help your patients see brilliantly 6 The NGENUITY experience: comfort, confidence, and connectivity Lawrence Woodard, MD W hen Lawrence Woodard, MD, brought the NGENUITY 3D Visualization System (Alcon) into his practice a year and a half ago, it was primarily for ergonomic reasons. Since then, it not only met his expectations, but he said he didn't realize how much he would value the addi- tional functionality he has experienced, including new capabilities being released with the NGENUITY 1.5 software upgrade. "I wish I had done it sooner, and I didn't realize how many more benefits there are than just the ergonomics," Dr. Woodard said. After adopting NGENUITY, Dr. Woodard said his neck pain was relieved after day 1, and he had more energy. "It made me realize how much I was using my lower back, my legs, my hips to hold myself up to the microscope; that was creating general body fatigue," he said. "Now I'm not engaging all my lower body and core muscles to hold myself up, so I'm not as fatigued at the end of the day." Dr. Woodard also appreciates the visibility he's gained with NGENUITY. He said he's able to see the structures of the eye at a larger size and with greater clarity than what he experienced with a traditional operating microscope. He said the greater depth of focus in 3D gives him more confidence during surgery. NGENUITY, at maximum magnification with an aperture setting of 30% and a viewing distance of 1.2 meters, offers an up to five times greater depth of field, up to 48% increased magnification, and up to 45% increased depth resolution, compared to analog microscopes. 1,2 "The corneal incision, iris, anterior capsule, posterior capsule all are in focus at the same time so I'm not zooming up and down based on what depth I'm working at," he said. "I'm more confident during the procedure because I can see everything in focus at the same time." Dr. Woodard said he and the other surgeons in his practice use NGENUITY for all of their procedures—MIGS, corneal proce- dures, and cataract surgery. He said the practice's cornea surgeon finds the view with NGENUITY better for DSAEKs and transplants than a traditional operating microscope. Dr. Woodard thinks the same for MIGS procedures. He said he doesn't need to adjust the position of the microscope head or his own positioning, and he experiences a more detailed view of the angle and its structures. When it comes to the NGENUITY 1.5 update, Dr. Woodard said one of the new features is contrast enhancement through the new Digital Detection image modes. This, he said, increas- es visibility during procedures, in his opinion. "Once I activate Tissue Detail mode, this local contrast enhancement allows me to maintain my view and maintain my red reflex better by adjusting the detail perceived during the procedure. In dense nuclei or ones where you have a dense posterior subcapsular cataract, two situ- ations where you can lose clarity and red reflex, the Tissue Detail mode plays a big role." Through Digital Detection, NGENUITY 1.5 incorporates a new color enhancement feature. Dr. Woodard said this can be helpful in cases of mature cataracts where trypan blue stain is used. The Capsule Clarity mode will boost visibility of the stain. He said that for surgeons who work in the posterior segment of the eye, Digital Detection provides imaging modes that are de- signed for things like vitreous visualization and membrane peels. Dr. Woodard uses all components of the Alcon suite: ARGOS, VERION, ORA, Centurion, LuxOR Revalia, and the LenSx Femtosecond Laser System with Image Guidance. The NGENU- ITY 1.5 update incorporates additional connectivity to these other technologies. "With the 1.5 software, my ORA and Image Guidance displays will be on the NGENUITY monitor, so I never have to look away from the screen during surgery," he said. Digital Image Guidance with NGENUITY 1.5 also reduces the footprint in his OR by eliminating the need for the Digital Marker cart as well as the cabling to the microscope since Image Guidance is now built into the NGENUITY 1.5 system. "The setup is much cleaner, Dr. Woodard operates using the NGENUITY 3D Visualization System. Source: Lawrence Woodard, MD "I didn't realize how many more benefits there are than just the ergonomics." Lawrence Woodard, MD