The manual analysis and planning involved in using the Istanbul Nomogram for CAIRS in Keratoconus treatment is crucial for ensuring highly customised and effective surgical outcomes.
Here’s why surgeons invest in creating individualised surgery plans which is personalised to each patient:
1. Each Keratoconus Case is Unique: Keratoconus varies significantly from patient to patient in terms of cone location, corneal thickness, and progression rate. A customised surgical approach allows surgeons to tailor the treatment based on individual anatomical and pathological factors, which can be more effective than a generalised approach. This patient-specific planning leads to better outcomes in vision quality, stability, and patient satisfaction.
2. Understanding Corneal Behaviour in Real-Time: The manual use of the Istanbul Nomogram enables surgeons to interpret unique patterns and characteristics in each cornea and adjust CAIRS placement accordingly. This real-time decision-making, which considers subtle nuances like high-order aberrations, is something current AI tools are not yet able to replicate with accuracy. Manual planning fosters a deeper understanding of corneal behaviour, a skill that will remain valuable even in an AI-driven future.
3. Enhancing Skills for Advanced Cases: As Keratoconus cases vary in complexity, manual planning helps surgeons develop critical skills for tackling more advanced cases. Surgeons who understand the principles of the Istanbul Nomogram and can adjust placements based on topographical variations will be more adaptable to complex cases that may not fit standard patterns. This experience is invaluable and strengthens the surgeon’s expertise.
4. Continuous Learning and Innovation: The manual approach is an active learning process, keeping surgeons engaged with the latest insights in corneal biomechanics and treatment innovations. This involvement can inspire research and ideas for further refining techniques or developing new nomograms and algorithms, thus contributing to the advancement of Keratoconus treatment.
5. Future-Proofing with Data Contributions: The data from these individualised cases will ultimately contribute to AI training data-sets and enhancing future technology. Surgeons’ continued manual planning and careful documentation will feed data into AI algorithms, helping to build robust models for automated planning. In this way, every surgery contributes to the broader goal of developing an AI-driven system that can handle the nuances of complex Keratoconus cases.
6. Precision and Patient Trust: Personalised manual planning reflects a high level of precision and care, which fosters patient trust. Knowing that their surgeon has meticulously tailored their treatment.
In the future, AI may indeed offer options for more automated surgical planning, but until technology comes of age to be able to achieve this level of nuanced understanding, surgeons play an irreplaceable role in crafting individualised personalised plans for each patients Keratoconus.
