by Matthew Hartley, Trainee, Northern Deanery, UK.
In NEOS’ 110th year, the spring meeting was held in Doncaster and centred around ocular oncology and vitreoretinal surgery. The meeting hosts, Umi Harley and Steve Winder from Royal Hallamshire Hospital, arranged a fantastic programme with world-class speakers from the northern region for the 160+ delegates attending. Hibba Quhill opened the day by providing a pragmatic and safe approach on what to refer to an ocular oncology service. Paul Rundle then continued to reduce the anxiety and uncertainty in the general ophthalmologist by explaining how to differentiate choroidal naevus from melanoma. Sachin Salvi then presented a selection of particularly rare ocular oncology cases that had pertinent learning points for all.
Professor David Steel of the Sunderland Eye Infirmary presented his expertise and wide-ranging research on macular holes in the annual PJ Hay lecture before being presented with the famous PJ Hay award in recognition of his contribution to ophthalmology.
Later in the day Mark Costen guided us through the evidence for when a vitreoretinal surgeon should intervene in our diabetic retinopathy patients. Teresa Sandinha then explored epiretinal membranes, including the established pathway for referral to clinic in the Mersey region. Roxane Hillier closed the day with a comprehensive overview of contemporary retinal detachment management, including her experience utilising pneumatic retinopexy.
Yunzi Chen and Amit Dhalla were the winners from a selection of high-quality rapid-fire oral presentations. Chen reported the real world eight-year outcomes of SLT and Dhalla eloquently described an atypical case presentation of a necrotising melanoma.
The next NEOS meeting will be in Manchester at the Pendulum Hotel on Wednesday 20 November. Professor Sus Biswas from Manchester will be hosting the meeting and the themes of technology in ophthalmology and genetics will be explored with several excellent speakers. Submissions for the video and ePoster competition are open now, with prizes available. Registration and more information via the NEOS website at: www.neos.org.uk.
