
- The winners of fast-paced X-Rounds session
- Team North America wins ‘ASCRS Has Got Talent’ competition overall
- YES symposium dissects complicated cases
- Handling refractive enhancements
- Upcoming: Sunday at the Annual Meeting

The winners of fast-paced X-Rounds session
The annual X-Rounds: Refractive Cataract Surgery to the Max brought together a group of surgeons who, in 2 minutes or less, presented on the new things they’re doing or that are of interest to them this year. The audience voted for the winner in each category of this Saturday afternoon session.
“This is one of my favorite events at ASCRS,” moderator Eric Donnenfeld, MD, said. “We have a great time. We learn something.”
Team North America wins ‘ASCRS Has Got Talent’ competition overall
ASCRS Has Got Talent, a Saturday afternoon session on the Main Stage moderated by David F. Chang, MD, featured four international teams of cataract surgeons representing North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each team highlighted practical pearls for routine and complicated cataract surgery and advanced-technology IOLs.
These teams were critiqued by the international panel of judges—Kevin Miller, MD, H. Burkhard Dick, MD, PhD, John Chang, MD, and Josefina Botta, MD—and the best talk in each category was voted upon by the audience.

YES symposium dissects complicated cases
Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD, and Kourtney Houser, MD, moderated the YES symposium on Saturday afternoon, titled “Surgical Resilience – Bouncing Back from the Unexpected Video Symposium.” The session was an interactive video symposium where presenters, including current residents, showed difficult cases and complications in the OR. A panel of surgeons provided guidance for the cases and shared how they would work through similar cases.
Sabrina Mukhtar, MD, presented a case titled “Returning From a Rent.” She operated on a patient’s left eye, which had a very dense brunescent white cataract.
Handling refractive enhancements
A Saturday afternoon symposium, “Finishing the Job: The Playbook for Refractive Enhancements,” was the capstone to the “Closing the Gap” refractive webinar series, and it delved into managing enhancements after both lenticular and keratorefractive procedures.
Rahul Tonk, MD, and Kathryn Hatch, MD, moderated the session. Dr. Tonk presented on the diagnostic workflow and when to enhance and when not to enhance, recommending several guidelines.
Upcoming: Sunday at the Annual Meeting
Don’t miss Sunday’s ASCRS Main Stage session. The Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Lecture will be given by David F. Chang, MD. The Charles D. Kelman, MD, Innovator’s Lecture will also take place during Sunday’s Main Stage and will be given by Sean Ianchulev, MD.
Get H.I.P.! The Cataract/Cornea/Glaucoma/Refractive Version will take place from 1:30–3:00 p.m. and will feature more than 25 curated rapid-fire video pearls from all over the world selected for maximum impact and relevancy to your day-to-day clinical practice.
Additionally, both the FDA symposium and the ASCRS Government Relations symposium will take place in Room 103AB. In the FDA symposium from 1:30–3:00 p.m., FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, will be making remarks, along with answering questions about recent FDA decisions and the direction he wants to see the agency move. The session will also feature Michelle Tarver, MD, Center Director, Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The ASCRS Government Relations symposium will this year feature Ron Brownstein, a Senior Political Analyst for CNN, Bloomberg Opinion Columnist, and the former Senior Editor for The Atlantic. Hear an in-depth examination of healthcare legislation, covering every aspect from the partisan debate to the political winners and losers to the financial issues. His insights will provide a keen understanding of how changes in federal and state policy remake the healthcare landscape and how the struggle over those policies is shaped by the parties’ larger political competition.
The ASCRS Film Festival will also take place Sunday evening on the ASCRS Main Stage, beginning with a reception at 5:15 p.m., with ceremony beginning at 5:45 p.m. Be sure to attend and see who takes home this year’s top prize!
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