Macular biology, pathophysiology Ahnelt P.K., Schubert Ch., Anger E.M.: Macular photoreceptor organization Boulton M.: Macular pigment - its role in health and disease Boulton M.: The importance of maintaining the RPE phenotype in retinal transplantation Retinal transplantation - experimental studies Gouras P.: What are the problems with retinal cell transplants? Crafoord S.: Experimental transplantation of IPE to the subretinal space-morphology and photoreceptor survival Assadoullina A., Binder S., Stanzel B., Abri A., Krugluger W., Scholz S., Feichtinger H.: Harvesting efficacy and viability of retinal pigment epithelial cells in aspirates from posterior retinal areas - a study on human eyes Retinal transplantation - clinical studies Thumann G., Aisenbrey S., Bartz-Schmidt K.U.: Iris pigment epithelium transplantation - experimental and clinical results Lappas A., Foerster A.M.H., Weinberger A.W.A., Coburger S., Schrage N., Kirchhof B.: Translocation of iris pigment epithelium in patients with exudative age-related maculer degeneration - long term results Richard G., Engelmann K., Valtink M., Weichel J.: Transplantation of HLA-typed RPE in age-related macular degeneration - results after 6 months follow-up Binder S., Krebs I., Stolba U., Abri A., Feichtinger H., Hilgers R.-D., Kellner L., Jahn C., Assadoullina A., Stanzel B.: Transplantation of autologous retinal pigment epithelium in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration Subretinal surgery Falkner C.I., Binder S., Leitich H.: Retrospective analysis of subretinal surgery Assadoullina A., Feichtinger H., Binder S., Abri A.: Subfoveal neovascular membranes - membrane morphology and outcome after combined subretinal surgery and autologous RPE transplantation Macular translocation De Juan E. Jr., Fujii G.Y., Au Eong K.-G., Humayun M.S., Lakhanpal R.R.: Current status of macular translocation surgery Aisenbrey S., Thumann G., Bartz-SchmidtK.U.: Two-year results after macular translocation with 360° retinotomy Cataract and AMD Brunner S., Falkner C.I., Krebs I., Abri A., Binder S.: Cataract extraction in age-related macular degeneration: the ECAM-Study - an ongoing trial Jahn C.E., Binder S., Krebs I., Stolba U., Mihalics C., Abri A.: Combined phacoemulsification and lens implantation with vitreous surgery in macular disorders Photodynamic therapy and rheopheresis Krebs I., Binder S., Stolba U., Abri A.: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) in eyes with pathologic myopia Klingel R. for the MIRA-1 Study Group: Interim analysis of the MIRA-1 - multicenter double masked placebo controlled trial of rheopheresis in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with soft drusen The vitreous and vitreoretinal diseases Sebag J.: Vitreous pathobiology and pharmacologic vitreolysis Kreissig I., Jonas J., Degenring R.F.: Diffuse diabetic macular edema: results after intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide Das T., Simanjuntak G., Sumasri K.: Optical coherence tomography titrated photocoagulation in diabetic clinically significant macular edema Kieselbach G., Kralinger F., Pedri M., Troger J., Kralinger M.T.: Long-term visual results after vitrectomy in diabetic macular edema Stolba U., Krebs I., Binder S., Neumaier B., Brunner S., Anaoko-Mensah T.: Vitrectomy in eyes with diabetic macular edema Therapies for vein occlusions Velikay-Parel M.: Vitrectomy for CME in retinal vein occlusions - A new indication? Figueroa M.S.: Comparative study of vitrectomy with and without vein decompression for branch retinal vein occlusion. A pilot study Binder S., Brunner S., Abri A.: Radial optic neurotomy for central retinal vein occlusion-first results Examination methods Krebs I., Binder S., Stolba U.: Structural changes following photodynamic therapy evaluated by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Ripandelli G., Scassa C., Coppè A., Sciamanna M.: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for

Enormous developments have been made in ophthalmology during the last century. Higher precision and newer instrumentation in surgery as well as better examination methods and progress in microbiology have given us access to much more information about the pathological physiology and anatomy that we are confronted with in our various fields of expertise. As we have approached a new millennium we decided to capture some of these new ideas and incorporate them into a conference where we could share our work and benefit from each others' experiences. This book is based on contributions nd presented at the "2 International Conference on Vitreoretinal Diseases" which was held in September 2002 in Vienna, Austria which focused on the retinal macula. The meeting was very fortunate to have the world's most renowned leaders in macular research attend and share their vast experience and expertise as well as their latest research and results. This meeting followed the "First International Conference on Vitreoretinal Diseases" which was held in Vienna, Austria in 1998, and focused on retinal transplantation and retinal microsurgery. nd After the great success of the "2 International Conference on Vitreoretinal Diseases" an overwhelming interest was expressed to gather all these new and innovative ideas that had been developed in a book in order to give colleagues and students access to a valu­ able collection of the information presented at the meeting. This international meeting was administrated by, Mrs. Tilly and Mr.