Glossary

AANS
The AANS (American Association of Neurological Surgeons) has more than 8,000 members worldwide. The industry exhibition held during the AANS's annual meeting is one of the biggest and most influential in the field of neurosurgery.

AAO
Abbreviation for American Academy of Ophthalmology - one of the world’s largest ophthalmology exhibitions held in the USA.

Aneurysm
An aneurysm is a permanent, localized, balloon-like bulge in an artery. It develops due to an inherent or acquired change in the wall of the affected artery. Tearing or bursting of an aneurysm can lead to life-threatening internal bleeding.

AMD
Abbreviation for Age-related Macular Degeneration - Retinal disease of the area of maximum visual acuity (macula) which leads to the loss of central vision.
Most common cause of age-related blindness in industrialized countries.

ASCRS
Abbreviation for American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery - Equivalent of ESCRS.

Astigmatismus
A visual defect that results from a change to the curvature of the cornea.

AT LISA
A diffractive aspheric multifocal intraocular lens for microincision cataract surgery (MICS) or presbyopic lens exchange.

CARIn
Abbreviation for Center for Application & Research in India.

Cataract
Deterioration of vision through opacity of the lens.
Most common cause of blindness worldwide; typical disease among the elderly.

CNS
The CNS (Congress of Neurological Surgeons in the USA) has more than 8,000 members including neurosurgeons, medical students and other medical professionals. The industry exhibition held during the annual meeting is one of the most important in the field of neurosurgery.

Diabetic retinopathy
The risk of visual impairment or even loss of sight due to diabetes is very high. The longer and the higher the concentration of sugar in the blood, the more frequently tiny blood vessels (micro-vessels) in the body are damaged in the entire body, including the tiny vessels in the retina. The result is called diabetic retinopathy.

EMEA
Abbreviation for Europe, Middle East and Africa - Used to describe the economic region comprising western and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Ear, nose and throat surgery (Abbreviation: "ENT surgery")
Also: Otolaryngology
Medical field concerned with the recognition and surgical treatment of diseases, injuries, malformations and malfunctions in the entire head and neck area.

ESCRS
Abbreviation for European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Equivalent of ASCRS.

Flap
Corneal flap generated during the correction of refractive visual errors using the rays of a femtosecond laser.
The flap is a flat, round disk that remains connected to the rest of the corneal tissue on one side only. It is the opening required for the ablation (removal) of the corneal tissue using an excimer laser (LASIK, femto-LASIK) or for the removal of the lenticle (ReLEx).

FORUM
Ophthalmic data management system which helps to increase the efficiency of eye care practices and clinics. As such, it stores and processes all relevant patient information, diagnostic data and images in one central location and can communicate with many diagnostic instruments and EMR (Electronic Medical Record) systems in practices and clinics.

Glaucoma
Ophthalmic disease which leads to increasing restriction of the field of vision, often caused by an increase in ocular pressure; Second most common cause of blindness in industrialised countries.

Glioblastoma (glioblastoma multiforme)
Glioblastoma is a malignant primary brain tumor in adults. Due to the very poor prognosis for patients suffering from this condition, it is classified as a grade IV tumor (extremely aggressive and fast-growing) of the central nervous system by the WHO.

IOL – Intraocular lens
Synthetic lens to replace the natural lens of the eye, used in cataract surgery.

Intraoperative fluorescence (Abbreviation: IOF)
The intraoperative fluorescence is a visualization technique that visualizes information that would otherwise remain invisible or very difficult to detect.

Most of us are familiar with this effect when certain materials seem to glow in black light in discos.
In medicine it is used to visualize blood in vessels or a tumor in surrounding tissue. Depending on the fluorescent agent and light used, the structures appear to light up in a different color. This provides surgeons with additional information that helps them make targeted decisions during the procedure.

ZEISS is one of the pioneers in this field and offers a broad range of products integrated into surgical microscopes. The BLUE 400 fluorescence module, for example, helps surgeons to distinguish tumor from healthy tissue. INFRARED 800 and FLOW 800 permit fast and reliable interpretation of the blood flow. YELLOW 560 enables the establishment of new fluorescence applications.

IORT – Intraoperative Radiotherapy
During Intraoperative Radiotherapy in surgery the exposed target volume (tumor / tumor bed) is subjected to an uniform irradiation.

Intraoperative radiotherapy makes it possible to apply a single high dose to tumors or a tumor bed to improve local tumor control.

By direct irradiation of the surgically exposed target volume during the irradiation the healthy tissue is protected.

Kyphoplasty
Kyphoplasty is a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of vertebral fractures.
Two balloons are inserted in the fractured vertebra via small cannulas with a diameter of approx. 4 mm. By filling the balloon with a contrast agent, the fractured vertebra is straightened. This is then fixated by injecting bone cement into the resulting cavity. The cement hardens in a few minutes and therefore stabilizes the fractured vertebra.

Lenticel
The lenticle in refractive surgery is a tissue layer of the cornea (corneal lens) curved on both sides that is created with a femtosecond laser and is subsequently removed surgically. Its shape determines the change of refractive power following the operation.

MEGA 2015
Corporate program at Carl Zeiss Meditec AG that specifies the objectives and measures through 2015. The cornerstones of the program are Innovations, Customer Care, New Markets, A Strong Team and Excellent Processes.

MICS - Microincision Cataract Surgery
One of the key trends in cataract surgery, in which the artificial intraocular lens is implanted in the eye through a small incision (1.8 mm).

Minimal-invasiv
Minimally invasive is a term used in medicine to describe procedures in which tiny incisions are used to perform surgery.

Neurosurgery
Medical field concerned with the detection and surgical treatment of diseases, injuries and malformations of the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves).

ONH assessment
Changes in appearance and measurements of the optic nerve head (ONH, also called optic disc – a round or oval area in the back of the eye where nerve fibers come together to form the optic nerve) assessed to facilitate glaucoma diagnosis and management. The ONH has an outer disc boundary and an inner cup definition. These boundaries can be assessed qualitatively with fundus images and OCT. Also proprietary software for OCT systems can measure the disc area, the "rim" thickness between the disc and cup boundaries and various ratios of the disc area to cup area. Change in these measurements over time can also be analyzed.

OPMI
OPMI^® is an abbreviation for surgical (operation) microscope. OPMI^® is a registered trademark of ZEISS.

OVD (Abbreviation for Ophthalmic Viscoelastic Devices)
Consumables used in cataract surgery. OVDs are transparent, viscoelastic solutions (most commonly made from sodium hyaluronate) that maintain the shape of the eye and protect the internal tissues during intraocular surgery.

Phacotechnology
Ultrasound is used to shatter the opaque natural lens of the eye and simultaneously remove it from the eye by the application of suction.

Plastic and reconstructive surgery
Medial discipline in which body shape or body function is restored or enhanced using surgical procedures.

Refraction
Visual defects of the eye normally resulting from a disproportion between the refractive power of the cornea and the length of the eyeball or from a reduction in the elasticity of the natural lens with increasing age. Can be treated by refractive surgery, making the wearing of eyeglasses unnecessary.

ReLEx^®
New minimally-invasive, flapless technique enabling laser treatment of the eye using only a femtosecond laser (VisuMax^® from ZEISS) for the first time. In a single treatment step the femtosecond laser creates a thin, lens-shaped piece of tissue – doctors call it a lenticel – and a tiny incision measuring less than 4 mm in the intact cornea. The doctor then removes the lenticel manually through the small opening.

RNFL assessment
Thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL – innermost layer of the eye composed of ganglion cell axons or nerve fibers that transmit visual impulses to the brain), assessed to facilitate early detection of glaucoma disease. Diagnostic systems such as OCT (optical coherence tomography) can be used to measure and compare a patient’s RNFL thickness to the mean value for RNFL thickness in the general population or normative data. Since glaucoma can be attributed to RNFL loss or “thinning”, below average thickness of a given RNFL may be indicative of glaucomatous damage. Change in RNFL thickness over time may also be analyzed to help assess disease progression and on-going disease management.

TARGIT
Abbreviation for TARGeted Intraoperative radioTherapy.
Please also see: Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT)

TARGIT-A
TARGIT-A is an international, randomized and multicenter study conducted by leading centers all over the world. The study began in March 2000 and is clarifying whether the TARGIT single dose radiotherapy (plus follow-up radiotherapy in the event of increased risk factors) can reduce the risk of recurrence of the cancer in the affected breast as effectively as the traditional, approximately six-week method. The patients included in the study are older than 45 years who have a small tumor with a certain risk profile. On a random basis, one half of the women taking part receive traditional radiotherapy while the other half is treated intraoperatively.

VISION 2020
International campaign “VISION 2020 – The Right to Sight” initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the IAPB (International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness). The goal of the campaign is to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020, e.g. by cost-effective measures for disease control and by investment in training and infrastructure development. Within the framework of VISION 2020, ZEISS promotes the setup of ophthalmic training centers.

Vitrectomy
(Partial) removal of the vitreous humor of the eye during an operation, e.g. in order to treat the retina.

WOC
Abbreviation for World Ophthalmology Congress which meets once a year.