Diaton® Tonometer

Dr. Mark Latina, MD– is a  board certified practicing ophthalmologist and an active researcher with a focus on laser applications and development.

He has pioneered several new laser procedures for the treatment of glaucoma and holds numerous patents, which include the development of “Dye-Enhanced Gonioscopic Laser Sclerostomy” and “Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty.”

He has published more than 40 scientific papers and book chapters, and also participated as a guest lecturer or faculty member in over 30 symposium and medical continuing education courses.

Dr. Emil Chynn , MD – an eye refractive surgeon,  author, researcher having his own laser vision correction center in the US specializing in Advanced Surface Ablation (ASA, comprising LASEK and epiLASEK).

He is the co-author of over a dozen peer-reviewed academic studies about laser vision correction, including articles in Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, American Journal of Ophthalmology, and British Journal of Ophthalmology, as well as over 100 non-peer-reviewed articles about a wide variety of ophthalmology topics.

Presented by:

- Mark Latina, MD

·         MassachusettsEye & 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

·         Harvard/Columbia/Dartmouth/NYU/Emory-trained

·         Park Avenue LASEK, New York, NY

Transcription of the interview:

Host:We're here at ASCRS 2015 in San Diego and 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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

Emil Chynn:Well, I think you're referring to let's say the disposables of the tonopen,

Audience 3:Yes

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.

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.

Emil Chynn:So, I guess Roman (BiCOM Inc., home/manufacturer of Diaton tonometer www.tonometerdiaton.com) is the distributor and also through Sonomed (http://www.sonomedescalon.com/) 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!