Sean Ianchulev, MD, was honored with this year’s Charles D. Kelman, MD, Innovator’s Lecture, focusing his presentation on the tribe that it takes to go from an idea to innovation.
Thomas Samuelson, MD, introducing Dr. Ianchulev, said Dr. Ianchulev, like Dr. Kelman, is the consummate creative ophthalmologist, entrepreneur, and innovator. Dr. Ianchulev grew up in communist Bulgaria and emigrated to the U.S. at age 18 with $200. He applied to one undergraduate college from each state and was accepted to the University of Rochester, where he met his now wife who was also from Bulgaria. He attended Harvard Medical School and did his residency at the University of Southern California. Dr. Ianchulev innovated his first device as a resident and didn’t stop there.
In his lecture, Dr. Ianchulev described his journey from eye doctor to iDoctor, with the ‘I’ being for innovation, and the tribe it has taken to get there.
Source: ASCRS
Glaucoma tribe
Dr. Ianchulev’s glaucoma tribe includes Iantrek, which 1.5 years ago launched the AlloFlo Uveo, a minimally invasive stent made from biomaterial that unlocked the uveo-scleral space, keeping cyclodialysis open. The bioconforming implant is made from a soft acellular matrix that provides structural scaffolding with no rigid hardware. Its hydrophilic matrix is highly porous. It minimizes fibrotic response, and there is no biomechanical mismatch to native tissue.
For the first time, Dr. Ianchulev unveiled the new AlloSpan Canal. This technology provides a durable circumferential canaloplasty without hardware or viscoelastic. He explained that a nitinol-based technology performs the canaloplasty, including outer wall canaloplasty. This is then scaffolded and maintained with the biostent. The biostent expands up to 40% and tents the canal.
Cornea tribe
Dr. Ianchulev also presented for the first time about BioGo Rx, a polybiologic bioshield for dry eye, by Sofia Biologics. This innovation is a topical, minimally manipulated amnion-chorion biotissue, which Dr. Ianchulev said delivers more bioload than the amniotic membrane.
He said it has a high tolerability, minimizes foreign body sensation, and has a minimal impact on vision.
Diagnostic tribe
miDOC (micro-interventional dynamic outflow curve) is an innovation being developed at New York Eye and Ear that Dr. Ianchulev described as the equivalent of ORA (Alcon) but for glaucoma. miDOC is intraoperative biometry.
Why the need? He explained that the point of glaucoma surgery is to increase outflow, however, outflow itself is not measured or quantified preoperatively or postoperatively. “We don’t know how much we increase outflow after surgery,” he said. “We do qualified success rates.”
The goal of miDOC is to measure instantaneous outflow. It takes 3 minutes to measure through a paracentesis the entire outflow of the eye and its ocular rigidity.
Office tech tribe
Dr. Ianchulev introduced Dropmate as a solution for dysbiosis, which he defined as the harmful imbalance or alteration in the composition and/or function of the host microbiome. Dr. Ianchulev explained that human beings host a microbiome in their gut and mucosal surfaces, including the eyes. “We are not sterile. We coexist with the environment.”
In ophthalmology, we cause dysbiosis more than 100 million times per year by not doing high-level disinfection for everything that touches a mucosal surface. Dropmate, Dr. Ianchulev described, provides light-based, high-level disinfection in 3 minutes.
Patient care tribe
Remoni Health, Dr. Ianchulev said, is building an ecosystem of remote monitoring tools that can help extend patient care so they are not lost to follow-up.
“We live in a world where innovation is exciting,” Dr. Ianchulev said, adding later that “innovation without a tribe is ideation. It takes a tribe.”
Editors’ note: Dr. Ianchulev has financial interests with a number of ophthalmic companies.
