title: Survey of common practices among oculofacial surgeons in the Asia-Pacific region: Graves' orbitopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A web-based anonymous survey was performed to evaluate practice preferences in the management of Graves' orbitopathy amongst oculofacial surgeons in the Asia-Pacific region.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire with contentious topics in Graves' orbitopathy was sent out via email to oculofacial surgeons in 14 countries within Asia-Pacific between May to December 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A response rate of 25.2% to 34.6% was achieved (32-44 of 127 participants). 61.0% of respondents encountered Graves' orbitopathy commonly in their practice. The more common causes of vision loss in Graves' orbitopathy included dysthyroid optic neuropathy (67.5%) and exposure keratopathy (15.0%). The clinical activity score was the most popular grading system for assessing Graves' orbitopathy. The preferred non-surgical therapeutic approaches included intravenous pulsed methylprednisolone (79.5%), oral steroids (56.4%), orbital radiation (12.8%), steroid-sparing immunosuppressants (10.3%) and watchful observation (7.7%). Thyroid orbital decompression was uncommonly or rarely performed by respondents. Orbital surgical decompression was most commonly performed via the two-wall technique (73.5%) and most respondents performed fat decompression (69.4%). Post-operatively, the most common complications include under correction (45.5%) and diplopia (42.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report the results of the first survey on the management of Graves' orbitopathy amongst oculofacial surgeons in Asia-Pacific. Our respondents practice preferences reflected the Graves' orbitopathy management consensus statement by the European group on Graves' orbitopathy in 2008.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, National University Health System , Singapore.
authors.forename: Gangadhara
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sundar
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chiam
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lun
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Koh
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D049970:Graves Ophthalmopathy / Q000628:therapy*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D013508:Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Asia-Pacific; Graves’ orbitopathy; survey