Long-Term Effects of Implanted Mini-Telescope Established in Study

"VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, Inc. a developer of advanced visual prosthetic devices for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), has announced the publication of 'Long-Term (60-month) Results for the Implantable Miniature Telescope: Efficacy and Safety Outcomes Stratified by Age in Patients with End-Stage Age-Related Macular Degeneration' in Clinical Ophthalmology," notes Medical News Today. "The 5-year data show substantial retention of gains in visual acuity over time after implantation with the Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz). The study reported that both younger (aged 65 to <75) and older patients (aged 75+) had clinically significant visual acuity gains at 2 years as well as 5 years after telescope implant. Younger patients retained more of the vision gains at five years and experienced somewhat fewer adverse events." Read more.

Number of Individuals and Treatment Costs for AMD to Rise Dramatically by Middle of Century

The number of individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will jump from two million to 3.4 million by 2032 and 4.4 million by 2050, according to the recent Prevent Blindness report called “Future of Vision: Forecasting the Prevalence and Costs of Vision Problems.” Treatment costs now run $4.9 billion a year, but they will increase to almost $10 billion in 2032 and $14 billion in 2050.The report notes that the current average age of AMD patients is 80. As a greater number individuals live beyond 80, the number of patients with AMD will increase. Whites and women, who are at higher risk for AMD than other groups, will continue to dominate the total affected population with AMD. Read more.

Anti-Inflammatory Sulindac Helps with AMD

“Sulindac, a known anti-inflammatory drug, can protect against oxidative damage due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), scientists have found,” according to Science Digest. “Their studies suggest that sulindac could be an inexpensive and relatively non-toxic therapeutic approach for treating AMD, one of the primary causes of vision loss in the elderly. AMD gradually destroys sharp, central vision, which is needed for seeing objects clearly and for common daily tasks such as reading and driving. Currently, no cures exist for the majority of AMD cases.” Read more.

FDA Approves Miniature Telescope for AMD Treatment

“VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, Inc. …announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz) for use in patients living with bilateral end-stage age-related macular degeneration who are age 65 or older. The telescope implant is the only FDA approved surgical device for end-stage AMD and is Medicare eligible.” That’s the start of a post on News-Medical. Read more.

Monthly Injections to Treat AMD May Be Unnecessary

"Researchers have found that, contrary to pevious clinical trial findings, monthly injections to counteract age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may not be necessary," according to a Medical News Today post. "The research was presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. The investigators used a strategy called "treat and extend" to conduct the study, in which the frequency of office visits and injections were tailored to each patient's individual response to therapy. Following 185 patients over a three-and-a-half-year period, the average number of visits and injections was reduced from 12 to 8.3 times per year." Read more.

Stem Cell Treatment for AMD

Science Daily reports that "age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness. Scientists at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Bonn University Hospital and from the Neural Stem Cell Institute in New York (USA) have developed a method for using stem cells to replace cells in the eye destroyed by AMD. The implants survived in rabbit eyes for several weeks. Additional research is needed for clinical application. The results are now presented in the journal Stem Cell Reports." Read more.

No Link between AMD and Dementia, but Eyes Could Reveal Alzheimers

"A new study published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology suggests there is no association between age-related macular degeneration and dementia or Alzheimer's disease, opposing previous research that has indicated otherwise," reports Medical News Today. "Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Alzheimer's disease are both conditions that commonly develop alongside increasing age." Read more.

At the same time, "an international team of researchers studying the link between vision loss and Alzheimer's disease report that the loss of a particular layer of retinal cells not previously investigated may reveal the disease's presence and provide a new way to track disease progression." That's the word again from Medical News Today. Read more.

NEI Studies Link the Same Gene as Risk Factor for AMD

Three studies reported in Nature Genetics have converged on the same gene as a rare but powerful risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The new research, sponsored by the National Eye Institute, solidifies a link between AMD and genes encoding the complement system, a set of proteins that plays a central part in immune responses and inflammation. In particular, the findings bring a gene called C3 into the spotlight. Read more.

Gene Mutation Linked to AMD

Medical News Today notes that "an international team of researchers, led by scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, has identified a gene mutation linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD)." Read more.

Opening New Avenues for the Treatment of AMD

“A new study changes our understanding of the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD),” reports Science Daily. “The researchers found that degenerative changes and loss of vision are caused by impaired function of the lysosomal clean-up mechanism, or autophagy, in the fundus of the eye. The results open new avenues for the treatment of the dry form of AMD, which currently lacks an efficient treatment.” Read more.

Lutein and Zeaxanthin Slow Progression of AMD, Confirms New NEI Study

“National Eye Institute Deputy Clinical Director Emily Chew, M.D., Ph.D., presented the results from the second Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS2) at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting in May. Her presentation expanded upon the results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA),” notes a news post from the AOA (American Optometric Assn.). “The primary analysis of the study tested whether adding FloraGLO Lutein and Optisharp Zeaxanthin, DHA + EPA, or a combination of the two to the AREDS formulation reduced the risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by an additional 25 percent as compared to study subjects taking the original AREDS supplement, which was the study control arm. The data did not demonstrate a significant reduction in progression to advanced AMD in any of the three treatment arms as compared to the control group.” Read more.

Virginia MDs Implant Telescope for Macular Degeneration

“Physicians at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center have become the first in Virginia to successfully implant a telescope in a patient's eye to treat macular degeneration,” according to Science Digest. “The telescope implant is designed to correct end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most advanced form of AMD and the leading cause of blindness in older Americans. Patients with end-stage AMD have a central blind spot. This vision loss makes it difficult or impossible to see faces, to read and to perform everyday activities such as watching television, preparing meals and self-care.” Read more.

AMD Remains Leading Cause of Visual Impairment for Elderly

“Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) continues to be the leading cause of visual impairment in the United States for people over age 65, according to a study recently published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology,” according to Science Daily. “AMD is a potentially blinding disease that affects more than 9.1 million Americans. This study, which tracked vision loss in relation to eye disease and treatment response in nearly 5,000 patients over a 20-year period, showed that despite the recent discovery of sight-saving drugs and advances in disease prevention, AMD still causes severe vision loss in approximately 15 percent of Americans 85 and older.” Read more.”

Facial Recognition and AMD

"Abnormalities of eye movement and fixation may contribute to difficulty in perceiving and recognizing faces among older adults with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), suggests a study 'Abnormal Fixation in Individuals with AMD when Viewing an Image of a Face' appearing in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science," writes Science Digest. "Unlike people with normal vision focus, those with AMD don't focus on "internal features" (the eyes, nose and mouth) when looking at the image of a face, according to the study by William Seiple, PhD, and colleagues of Lighthouse International, New York. They write, 'Abnormal eye movement patterns and fixations may contribute to deficits in face perception in AMD patients.'" Read more.

New Light-Sensitve Molecule Stimulates Retina and Brain

"Chemists and vision scientists have designed a light-sensitive molecule that can stimulate a neural response in cells of the retina and brain -- a possible first step to overcoming degenerative eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration, or to quieting epileptic seizures," according to a Science Digest post. Read more.

Discovered Cells Could Lead to Treatment of Eye Conditions

"Eye experts and scientists have discovered specific cells in the eye which could lead to a new procedure to treat and cure blinding eye conditions," says Science Daily. "The study found that cells called corneal limbal stromal cells, taken from the front surface of the eye have stem cell properties and could be cultured to create retinal cells. This could lead to new treatments for eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa or wet age-related macular degeneration, a condition which is a common cause of loss of vision in older people and will affect around one in three people by age 70." Read more.

Eye Health Improving for Elderly, Getting Worse for Boomers?

"Today's senior citizens are reporting fewer visual impairment problems than their counterparts from a generation ago, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study," notes Medical News Today. "Improved techniques for cataract surgery and a reduction in the prevalence of macular degeneration may be the driving forces behind this change, the researchers said. 'From 1984 until 2010, the decrease in visual impairment in those 65 and older was highly statistically significant,' said Angelo P. Tanna, M.D., first author of the study. 'There was little change in visual impairments in adults under the age of 65.'" Read more from this MNT post.


A June 20, 2012, post notes the report from Prevent Blindeness America, indicating a rise in eye health problems for Baby Boomers. See the post.

UV-Blocking CLs Could Postpone AMD

Blocking the transmission of ultraviolet light (UV) through a contact lens may have an effect in maintaining the eye's macular pigment density, according to new research presented today at the 2012 British Contact Lens Association Clinical Conference. Existing research suggests that a higher level of macular pigment appears to have a protective effect against age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of severe vision loss for people over the age of 55. Read more.