Message from EURETINA President

Since its founding at the turn of the millennium, EURETINA has been surpassing all expectations both in terms of the attendance at its congresses and the scope of our activities. During that time, it has grown from a handful of European retinal specialists into the largest retinal congress in Europe. There are several factors that may account for the success of our organisation. Among them is an increased interest among ophthalmologists in the retinal field, because there are more treatments available for very common diseases such as age-relate macular degeneration (AMD) and branch retinal vein occlusion, which they can incorporate into their practice pattern. There are also some very exciting new developments in the retinal subspecialty which are generating a lot of interest, such as gene therapy, stem cell transplants and also retinal prostheses. The formula of our congresses is also a great success, with its combination of symposia, free papers and instructional courses. The professionalism with which the congresses are managed further enhances their educational quality. The advent of intravitreal injection therapy for common retinal disease has been of great benefit to many patients, but the sheer numbers with these conditions is huge and ever-growing and is bound to exceed our capacity to treat. Not only are patients living and remaining active for longer than before, but the repetitive nature of the therapy means that the demand for the treatments is increasing exponentially. The challenge will be to meet this demand with our current treatments and our current facilities. It is question of either finding treatments that require less if any repetition, and perhaps reintroducing laser not so much because it is better, but because it reduces the need for retreatment. RESEARCH & EDUCATION In the meantime, EURETINA has been expanding into research. For example, we have already started a registry, in collaboration with the British and Eire Association of Vitreoretinal Surgeons (BEAVRS), to monitor vitreoretinal surgery, particularly retinal detachment surgery. We are instituting a research fund to support research and we are planning a EURETINA multicentre surgical trial on the treatment of submacular haemorrhage. Inspired by the ESCRS endophthalmitis prophylaxis study, we decided to devote some of our excess funds to this research project. We will also be expanding our educational efforts over the years to come, and we are working on that project right now. In fact, here at the congress in Copenhagen we are conducting a survey to identify gaps in education and knowledge. Where we find those gaps we will put in extra education. We will be working with industry on our educational programme through the use of anonymised contributions. And as part of the education initiative, we will be providing tips on how to read product information and discriminate between sales inducement and real scientific data. In that way, we will have a very balanced type of educational programme.