MILESTONES IN RETINA

Expert perspectives on the evolution of retina practice, procedures, technologies and instrumentation.

milestone moments

Importing Vitrectomy to Canada

In 1971, Dr. Robert Machemer, Anton Banko and Jean-Marie Parel designed the vitreous infusion cutter (VISC), one of the first commercially available instruments to remove vitreous during a vitrectomy. Shortly thereafter, Mark Mandelcorn, MD, FRCSC, arrived at Bascom Palmer from Toronto and became Dr. Machemer’s first fellow, working directly alongside him and Bascom’s trailblazing faculty. In this interview, ASRS History of Retina Co-Chair Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA, FASRS, talks with Dr. Mandelcorn as he recalls his experience in Miami during a time of exciting discoveries, and his return to Canada where he was the first to use the VISC, and later trained a generation of retinal surgeons to employ this revolutionary invention to help save vision across the country.

Podcast

Listen to History of Retina interviews here or access on popular podcast directories. View a full list of History of Retina podcasts at https://retinahistory.asrs.org/podcasts.

(Interview published 2022)