Abbott’s Symfony multifocal IOL yields good intermediate vision

A randomized, controlled trial of the Tecnis Symfony IOL (ZXR00) shows it improved intermediate and near vision while maintaining comparable distance visual acuity.

Abbott reported the topline data this week at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Conference in New Orleans, saying it intends to submit the data to the U.S. FDA to support the regulatory application of the Tecnis Symfony IOL in the U.S.

"The data from this study showed that patients who received the Symfony lens were more likely to achieve improved intermediate and near vision, while maintaining similar distance vision compared with patients who received a standard IOL," said Jason Jones, MD, a study investigator who presented the data at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Conference in New Orleans.

The prospective double-masked clinical investigation randomized 295 subjects to receive either the Symfony lens or the Tecnis one-piece aspheric acrylic IOL (ZCB00). The Symfony group achieved 1.7 more lines of uncorrected intermediate visual acuity (monocular UCIVA) and 2.4 additional lines of distance corrected intermediate visual acuity (monocular DCIVA) at 66 cm compared with patients in the monofocal group. Additionally, the Symfony patients maintained both uncorrected and best corrected, monocular and binocular, distance visual acuity.

The proprietary lens incorporates a second diffractive optic technology that reduces chromatic aberration and boosts image quality. It is designed to elongate the range of focus of the eye and provide a continuous range of vision at near, intermediate and distance.

The Symfony IOL is approved in more than 50 countries around the world, and received the CE mark in 2014.