The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation today announced a $25,000 grant to support the work of the Intermountain Ocular Research Center (IORC) for its ongoing investigation of the latest outbreak of toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS).

“We’ve seen five times the normal number of TASS cases in the period from March 2006 to May,” said Nick Mamalis, head of IORC, which is part of the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The grant will be used to defray expenses already incurred, Mamalis added.

To deal with the latest TASS outbreak, an ad hoc task force was assembled which includes Henry Edelhauser, MD, a TASS expert at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; Walter Hellinger, MD, an epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida; and Argun Srinivasan, MD, at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. In addition, ASCRS president Sam Masket, MD and representatives from Alcon Laboratories and Advanced Medical Optics act in a consultative role, Mamalis said. 

We convene weekly conference calls to review data obtained from a protocol that was forwarded to every center that has reported a TASS incident, Mamalis said. The protocol helps identify what products -- intraocular lenses, tubing, phaco machines, sterilizers etc., were used in the cataract procedures. As the data comes back, we enter it into spread sheets and analyze them to see I there is a common element, Mamalis said.   

There have been between 90 and 100 outbreaks over period March to May, about 5 times the normal rate, said Mamalis, adding, “So, far no single factor has been identified, there’s no smoking gun. There are a half dozen potential causes.  It’s baffling, that’s what’s driving us crazy, and no one factor is consistently popping up.”

Mamalis said his group will issue a preliminary report this week.  “Fortunately, the majority of these TASS incidents have been moderate inflammations.  While they can cause blurred vision and significant inflammation, with intensive topical cortico-steroid treatment, the majority are clearing up with no permanent vision problems,” Mamalis said.  

TASS incidents should be reported to Nick Mamalis, MD, Intermountain Ocular Research Center, John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah  84132, nick.mamalis@hsc.utah.edu, (801) 581-6586. 

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