Mitchell Jackson, CEO and founder of Jacksoneye, is a renowned and highly experienced cataract and LASIK surgeon who has been practicing in the greater Chicago area for decades. After spending a day in surgery with the new QUATERA 700 system from Carl Zeiss, he’s full of praise for the new technology. Jackson explains that the QUATERA 700 system offers the same level of control as a more traditional Venturi pump system. Its fluidics and the incredible chamber stability surgeons can maintain are immediate advantages. Jackson even says that his practice would, for the first time in his career, consider an alternative to tools such as the Stellaris Elite™.
From his experience with the QUATERA 700 technology, Jackson highlights the device’s effectiveness at cutting through dense cataracts. With the cutting comes excellent control – or, as Jackson puts it, “holdability” – meaning the way the QUATERA 700 grabs pieces of cataract for the surgeon. This minimizes the risk of puncturing the posterior capsule that arises when surgeons need to chase pieces of denser cataracts. The higher aspiration presets help keep ultrasound times down, which not only lessens the risks to the corneal endothelium, but also reduces patient recovery times. Jackson explains, “I have a lot of dense cataracts. It used to be that only 20 percent of cases were complex; now it feels like 80 percent are complex cases.” The pandemic contributed to this shift by delaying cataract treatment for a great number of patients. As Jackson put it, in busy times, “you definitely want a system like the QUATERA 700 in your backyard if you’re doing more dense and complex cases.”
An additional advantage that Jackson brings up is the QUATERA 700’s efficient use of phaco energy. The clear advantage of this feature is the degree to which surgeons can reduce the amount of energy in the eye, allowing the corneal endothelium to recover faster – particularly in cases of denser cataracts. This efficiency isn’t just for surgeons, though; it can really help patient recovery times, especially in more complex cases. With less energy in the eye, the risk of corneal edema is reduced and patients recover their vision faster.
Because surgeons are often loyal to their existing equipment and technology, new innovations must be easy to use. Jackson explains that the rule of “see one, do one, teach one” holds true when it comes to using the QUATERA 700 system for the first time. Designed to adapt to surgeons in a variety of environments, the QUATERA 700 synergizes well with the ARTEVO 800 digital microscope. Jackson outlined that, with the majority of his cases, he already uses this microscope and there’s a compatible overlay for the 3D screen – so, if you use the QUATERA 700, your phaco settings and times are viewable on the big screen. “I can see all my phaco QUATERA 700 settings live in vivo while I’m operating, which is extremely convenient.”
Jackson encourages surgeons not to be afraid to try new systems and to invite the Carl Zeiss team into their centers to demonstrate the QUATERA 700. In his own center, with 14 surgeons, they plan to bring the QUATERA 700 system in to complement their current resources. Summing up, he says, “I did a whole day of surgery with the QUATERA 700 – over 20 cases with no problems. I feel like it’s ready for prime time!”
