Automate the Barrett Integrated K Formula with Ease

As a surgeon who strives to constantly improve the quality of his work, I know that marginal differences in procedure can result in largescale outcome improvements when volume is high enough. To improve my patient’s postoperative outcomes, I embraced the Barrett Integrated K formula for nearly all my patients.

I recommend full adoption of the Barrett Integrated K using ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner because it avoids the tedious process of navigating to and entering data on websites like ASCRS IOL calculators.

It should come as no surprise that different modalities capturing data in our presurgical workups produce different K values. After all, a biometer and topographer measure different areas of the cornea and use different means of measurement, so we should expect a small variation in K values from device to device.

When our diagnostic devices churn out K values that differ slightly, surgeons often suggest optimization of the ocular surface before surgery as a means of stabilizing anatomy. But the reality is different devices measure different areas and while each device is correct in their measurements, they still differ in K values. How does a surgeon know what to use? With the Barrett Integrated K you don’t need to choose; you can use all of them! The Barrett Integrated K formula considers the various K values captured by biometers, topographers, and autokeratometers to calculate a single K value using a sophisticated vector analysis developed by Graham Barrett, MD.

Like many surgeons, I relied on the Barrett Integrated K formula when the variability in K values was so great that I did not trust any single calculation. At first, this mostly applied to patients with a history of refractive surgery, whose surgically altered anatomy led to inconsistent K measurements.

As my experience and satisfaction with using the Barrett Integrated K formula grew, I began to use this formula for nearly every case in my clinic. After all, slight variations detected even in eyes without a surgical history were nevertheless variations, and the Barrett Integrated K formula transformed these discrepancies into a strength.

Prior to the creation of ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner, I manually entered K values into a web-based calculator. This process was prone to transcription errors, disrupted the flow of surgical consults, and struck those of us who embrace a digitized OR as a frustrating-but-necessary analog pitstop.

But now that the Barrett Integrated K formula is an option among the numerous formulas within ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner, generating a Barrett Integrated K value is accomplished in seconds and happens automatically. And because ZEISS VERACITY acts as a central hub for the various measurement modalities in my clinic, data are pulled directly from a given device into ZEISS VERACITY, thereby eliminating the risk of inaccurate input.

If your practice is like mine, you have multiple locations stocked with different presurgical workup equipment. But because I use the Barrett Integrated K formula, which is agnostic vis-à-vis device or modality, the quality of the K values I use in surgery is consistent. Further, because ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner communicates with ZEISS and non-ZEISS technologies, I can continue to apply the same practice pattern to all patients irrespective of the clinic I happen to be in on a given day.

ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner allows me to assess postsurgical outcomes, and a high-volume surgeon like me can assess whether visual outcomes are linked to different corneal measurement modalities. Although this is unlikely to occur because the Barrett Integrated K formula mitigates inter-device K differences, it nevertheless provides peace of mind that I could identify the source of differing outcomes should they arise.

Surgeons rely on routine, and any alterations to that routine come with requisite disruptions. Wider adoption of the Barrett Integrated K formula into your practice might be rocky if you insist on using a web-based calculator for data input. However, surgical practices that leverage the accuracy, speed, and convenience of ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner to ease the incorporation of the Barrett Integrate K into their clinic will find their transitions seamless and more efficient with less risk of transcription errors.

Skip the hiccups and the growing pains. Unlock the power of the Barrett Integrated K formula by connecting your surgical practice to ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner.

^{The statements of the author reflect only his personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any institution with whom he is affiliated.
The author has a contractual or other financial relationship with Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. and has received financial support.}