30-Second Takeaway
- Toric IOLs in selected pediatric cataract cases improve long-term CDVA and reduce amblyopia versus nontoric lenses.
- Half-dose PDT provides durable control for chronic CSC, while most eplerenone-treated eyes ultimately require PDT rescue.
- DALK offers endothelial and refractive advantages over mushroom PK in keratoconus with comparable long-term visual acuity.
- Non-physician intravitreal injection programs safely expand anti-VEGF capacity when training and governance are robust.
- Ocular POCUS and mNGS have focused roles; they supplement but do not replace specialist assessment and standard diagnostics.
Week ending February 14, 2026
Targeted Procedures, Safer Systems, and Smarter Diagnostics in Everyday Ophthalmic Practice
Toric IOLs improve 3-year vision and amblyopia outcomes in congenital pediatric cataract with significant astigmatism
In this prospective nonrandomized study, 194 children aged 3–8 years with congenital cataract and ≥2.0 D corneal astigmatism received toric or nontoric IOLs. Both groups showed marked UDVA and CDVA gains, but toric lenses achieved significantly better mean CDVA at 3 years. More toric eyes reached nonamblyopic vision (CDVA ≥0.8) and had consistently lower postoperative refractive astigmatism throughout follow-up. In children with >3.0 D preoperative astigmatism, toric IOLs produced superior CDVA from 3 months to 3 years without clinically important rotation events.
Half-dose PDT shows durable superiority over eplerenone for chronic CSC in longer-term SPECTRA follow-up
The SPECTRA randomized trial followed 107 chronic CSC patients treated with half-dose PDT or oral eplerenone for 24 months. By 3 months, 90% of eplerenone eyes and 20% of PDT eyes crossed over to half-dose PDT for persistent subretinal fluid. At 24 months, complete fluid resolution occurred in 80% of primary PDT and 88% of primary eplerenone groups, with similar functional outcomes. Findings indicate that definitive half-dose PDT, rather than prolonged eplerenone, underlies long-term anatomic and visual results in chronic CSC.
OTS and Pediatric OTS correlate with visual outcome but only moderately match actual categories after open-globe injury
This systematic review and meta-analysis included 47 studies encompassing 12,515 open-globe injuries evaluating OTS and Pediatric OTS performance. Higher OTS/POTS scores correlated moderately to strongly with better final vision in pediatric cohorts, with correlations around 0.60–0.65. Agreement between predicted and observed visual categories was only moderate (Cohen’s κ≈0.48) with substantial heterogeneity. Overall certainty of evidence was graded moderate, suggesting scores are helpful for group-level counseling but not deterministic for individuals.
Non-physician intravitreal injection services maintain safety while substantially increasing anti-VEGF capacity
This systematic review summarized 16 studies reporting 100,150 intravitreal anti-VEGF injections delivered by trained non-physician staff. All injectors underwent structured, supervised training, and endophthalmitis rates (0.015%–0.07%) matched physician-led benchmarks. Task-shifted services increased capacity by roughly 25%–85%, reducing waiting times and costs without compromising efficiency. Patients reported high satisfaction and confidence in non-physician injectors, supporting broader adoption within robust governance frameworks.
References
Numbered in order of appearance. Click any reference to view details.
Additional Reads
Optional additional studies from this edition.