The large color screen showed a giant human eye. The surgeon’s invisible hands deftly operated miniature tools, replacing the opaque crystalline lens with a clear synthetic one. The removal of the cataract was watched by hundreds of doctors in six European countries.
Last week, Kyiv Eye Microsurgery Center hosted a television space bridge called Live Cataract Surgery organized by the World Congress of Ophthalmologists and the Alcon Company. The surgery was transmitted from the Belgian Saint Truiden Clinic and the event attracted numerous specialists from Kyiv, Donetsk, Poltava, and a number of their foreign colleagues undergoing on-the-job training at the Microsurgery Center.
Says Andriy Serhiyenko, the Center’s leading expert, “This is the second such television bridge in Kyiv. It is extremely important, considering that we witnessed the performance of eleven leading Belgian, Japanese, US, French, and other eye surgeons. After each surgery the doctor, without even taking off his gown, sits down to discuss the operation with colleagues and answer questions from the space bridge audience in several European countries. Our physicians now have a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with different techniques, schools, and modern equipment. Another important thing is that we can compare our equipment and methods to those used in the developed countries. Unfortunately, money is the only problem here. We can also extract a cataract in 15-20 minutes, but we have only one set of equipment which has been used in more than 700 cases. Also, we cannot afford the most modern synthetic crystalline lenses which considerably lessen the surgery’s complexity, reducing it to a regular hospital operation. If we had what our colleagues have in the West we would perform with as much skill and ease as the world’s famous surgeons demonstrated today.






