A glaucoma specialist Dr. Mark Latina and a cornea specialist Dr. Emil Chynn discuss the benefits and advantages of Diaton Transpalpebral Scleral Tonometer after their clinical trial results.
– Mark Latina, MD – Glaucoma Specialist
• Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary – Harvard Medical School
• Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Tufts University School of Medicine
• Advanced Glaucoma Specialists, Reading, MA
– Emil W. Chynn, MD, FASC – Cornea Specialist
• Harvard/Columbia/Dartmouth/NYU/Emory-trained
• Park Avenue LASEK, New York, NY
Transcription of the interview:
Host: We have two doctors joining us – Doctor Emil Chynn from New York and Doctor Mark Latina from Boston. Gentlemen have been working with Diaton tonometer for quite some time, a number of years and have done a number clinical trials. Gentlemen we just would like to hear some of your experience with the device – please share.
Dr. Mark Latina: So I’ve used the device now more than three years and it really integrates nicely to the clinical practice. I’d say device which can be used by all of our technicians, they are easily trained on the device, it doesn’t really require an ophthalmologist or a highly skilled specialist to do the procedure and it can be done on a patient in virtually any setting and I think that’s really quite important, you don’t even need to be in the exam room to do the procedure. This of course allows for the device to be used in Non-ophthalmic or non-office space settings such as it being used in the third world countries and be used as a screening device.
Dr. Emil Chynn: We did a trial at two centers, in my center in New York and Mark’s center in Boston, where we validated the device against Goldmann and also Tonopen and within the normal range of glaucoma pressures it’s usually within 2 mmHg which is quite accurate and in high pressures like in a high glaucoma patient it’s typically within ten percent which is also fine. I think we have a couple questions from the audience. First question:
Audience 1: Doctor Chynn, what type of practice do you have in New York and how is this device used in your office?
Dr. Emil Chynn: I have a cornea refractive practice. We’re doing only tertiary care. We’re doing about a thousand laser vision correction cases a year and because we use sterilize to prevent scarring we have to check pressure at all patients. It’s kind of a little bit time consuming
for MD’s to do this sometimes. We have the technicians do this and you’re not gonna have a technician do Goldmann, but you can have a technician do the Diaton, it adds a lot of efficiency to the practice, so the patients feel very comparable. I think there is a second question.
Audience 2: Doctor Latina, please, as a glaucoma specialist how do you think the equipment can provide advantages to the general practitioner in ophthalmology?
Dr. Mark Latina: Well I think that the, you know obviously it’s easy to use and that’s important and plus as we said don’t require an ophthalmologist to perform the procedure. It allows again as Emil said, it allows somebody else to be able to do that procedure, to get that measurement for you. So I think that’s probably its main role.
Obviously, as well patients with corneal disease and other issues when you can’t really do applanation tonometry, this is a valuable asset.
Dr. Emil Chynn: And we have a lot of patients with keratoconus, because I’m doing LASEK, laser vision correction, these days now I can cross-link them, but you still have to have a good way to check the pressure on them and obviously if they have a way to do it not through the cornea. I think we have time for a third question.
Audience 3: I’m a technician and use some of the disposable equipment which can be uncomfortable for the patients. Can you tell me how they compare?
Dr. Emil Chynn: Well, I think you’re referring to let’s say the disposables of the tonopen,
Audience 3: Yes
Dr. Emil Chynn: and it’s kind of a pain and that does get a little bit expensive. So this device has no disposables and it doesn’t even touch the eye.
Dr. Mark Latina: Right, you don’t even need an anesthetic which is a plus and again there’s no other disposables and you don’t and not really making any contact with the cornea. So again, it’s quite readily useful for variety of medical as well as even non-medical personnel.
Dr. Emil Chynn: So, I guess Roman (DevelopAll Inc., home / manufacturer of Diaton tonometer www.tonometerdiaton.com) is the distributor which is the booth we’re at. I’m glad you had a chance to join us at ASCRS here at San Diego.
Host: Thank you so much gentlemen, for your time and I appreciate you sharing your experience with the use of the transpalpebral technology and making others aware of its capabilities and we really appreciate your time and your feedback.
Thank you!
– Mark Latina, MD – Glaucoma Specialist
• Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary – Harvard Medical School
• Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Tufts University School of Medicine
• Advanced Glaucoma Specialists, Reading, MA
– Emil W. Chynn, MD, FASC – Cornea Specialist
• Harvard/Columbia/Dartmouth/NYU/Emory-trained
• Park Avenue LASEK, New York, NY