Date released: Jan. 27, 1998

ASSORT offers breakthrough in astigmatism treatment and analysis

MELBOURNE, Australia -- With publication in a recent issue of an international peer-reviewed medical journal, a Melbourne eye surgeon and his company continue to refine an important new approach to the analysis of astigmatism, a common condition in which the cornea of the eye is aspherical. About 70% of people who wear glasses require astigmatism correction.

Ophthalmologist Noel Alpins included his astigmatism analysis method in a software package called ASSORT (Alpins Statistical System for Ophthalmic Refractive surgery Techniques), and in 1992 formed the company ASSORT Pty. Ltd. to produce the software. Alpins' methods have patents or patents pending in the United States and other countries. The ASSORT program also includes comprehensive outcomes analysis of cataract, refractive and glaucoma treatment.

The approach promises significant improvement in the planning, performance and follow-up of refractive surgery, which is performed to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses. Various refractive surgical techniques, most employing the use of a laser, are now offered in the United States and around the world.

Alpins first described his astigmatism analysis method in the July 1993 issue of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (JCRS). He followed up with a second article in the January/February 1997 issue, and his most recent paper appears in the December 1997 issue of the same publication. A fourth article, scheduled for publication in the next few months, may be the most significant of the series, applying his vector-analysis method to irregular astigmatism, a particularly vexing problem for ophthalmologists and their patients.

JCRS is published jointly by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, and is distributed to more than 7,500 eye surgeons worldwide. Alpins' earlier papers have been cited by a number of authors published in JCRS and other medical journals.

"Surgeons are using 21st century technology to correct refractive errors, but an approach to astigmatism that hasn't really advanced in 20 years. The Alpins method is a breakthrough that I think will soon be as widely used as the common eye chart." ... Keith J. Croes, a former editor of Ocular Surgery News and EyeWorld, both leading ophthalmic publications.

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