British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit

The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU) has recently published its first year report on its initial pilot studies in four areas: loss of vision in the non-amblyopic eye, sympathetic ophthalmia, a cohort study of stage 3 retinopathy, and the incidence of acanthamoeba keratitis. BOSU as a concept was initially proposed by ophthalmologists from St Thomas’s Hospital London and quickly taken on by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Essentially the scheme is a reporting card system whereby all registered ophthalmologists in the UK report positively or negatively on a monthly basis on their experiences in any of the above projects with the aim of gathering information nationwide on conditions that are not common and for which there is not much information concerning causes and outcomes in common practice. Each project is targeted for a 12 month period and new projects are added as older projects come to an end. Individual departments in the UK act as a reporting centre for each condition depending on their interest and expertise. So far the scheme has achieved reporting rates up to 70% and as more ophthalmologists become used to the system a higher return rate is expected. It is likely that much new and important information will be obtained using the BOSU scheme particularly with true estimates being possible of the potential morbidity from conditions such as sympathetic ophthalmia and acanthamoeba keratitis as …