The recent FDA clearance of a swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) platform (PLEX Elite 9000, Carl Zeiss Meditec) for posterior ocular structures enables fast, dense, wide, and deep imaging of the retina, choroid, and their associated microvasculature, said Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, PhD.
Ophthalmology may be one step closer to the hope of providing artificial vision for individuals affected by virtually all forms of blindness.
Ophthalmology Times is pleased to introduce a new clinical and educational platform for retina specialists called Modern Retina.
Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is well-known as a heterogeneous disease with variable natural history and variable treatment response, said Carl D. Regillo, MD, FACS. Many patients do well without monthly treatment as noted in HARBOR PRN arms.
Treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) patients with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) on a monthly regimen has produced “great results” in clinical trials, said Prof. Mark C. Gillies, MBBS, PhD. “But what happens after that and what happens in real world practice?”
Computers may make more reliable diagnoses of plus disease in retinopathy of prematurity than individual clinicians, a researcher reports.
Peeling of the internal limiting membrane has increasingly become a dogma of surgical retina, while maintenance of the face-down positioning may become anachronistic in many cases.
Researchers have identified a new biomarker they believe can be used as a predictor of vision change in patients with diabetic macular edema, either during the natural history of the disease or after undergoing anti-VEGF therapy. The biomarker is disorganization of the retinal inner layers, or DRIL.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 29.1 million people, or 9.3% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. Over 8 million (27.8%) have the disease and are not diagnosed. The number of diagnosed cases are projected to increase 165% from the year 2000 to 2050, according to the American Diabetes Association. By 2050, there will be 29 million diagnosed cases of diabetes in the United States.
Retinal vascular changes do not show non-pathological age-related cognitive decline, researchers say. The study does not rule out the use of retinal information in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Cystoid macular edema (CME) might become less problematic in patients with non-ischemic central retinal vein occlusions (CRVOs).
A new class of ophthalmic drug continues to show promise for treating patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).
Patients treated with ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) for diabetic macular oedema (DMO) in the National Health Service of the United Kingdom can fare about as well as patients in clinical trials, a review of patient records suggests.
Patients may respond differently to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatments for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) depending on their genotypes, researchers say.
When it comes to finding new treatments for diabetic macular edema (DME), there is no shortage of promising targets, said Peter A. Campochiaro, MD. He presented an overview of future compounds with various mechanisms of action that may change how clinicians treat DME.
Looking back at 2016, incremental improvements in devices are changing how retina surgeons approach and treat surgeries, said a group of experts. For Charles Wykoff, MD, PhD, two novel improvements may not radically alter surgical approaches today, but will have a long-lasting impact down the road.
This has been the year of optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography, numerous retina specialists said. Commercially available systems are available from Carl Zeiss Meditec, Heidelberg Engineering, and Optovue provide a noninvasive way to image retinal vasculature and confirm clinicians’ diagnoses of abnormalities.
The advent of three-dimensional optical coherence tomography to live surgery may bring greater clarity to how ophthalmologists visualize structures and how they operate.
Pharmacologic activity in the retina realm continues to hold much excitement for new therapies to treat retinal disorders.
Analyzing data from the European Eye Study, Gareth J. McKay, PhD, of Queen’s University in Belfast, United Kingdom, and colleagues in 7 countries in Europe found no meaningful association between serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and AMD. They published the finding in Ophthalmology.
In this Q&A with members of the Ophthalmology Times Europe Editorial Advisory Board, participants take a look at some of the top challenges and opportunities facing ophthalmologists in Europe today.
Aflibercept, an anti-VEGF agent, can enable treatment interval extensions and provide rapid and sustained vision gain in retinal vascular diseases as well as significantly reducing the severity of diabetic retinopathy.
Retina specialists who are Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network investigators offer views on whether laser panretinal photocoagulation or anti-VEGF therapy deserves consideration as first-line treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Aflibercept (Eylea, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) intravitreal injection, administered according to an as-needed regimen, improved the anatomic outcomes in many eyes refractory to monthly bevacizumab or ranibizumab injections that had persistent or recurrent fluid. However, half of the patients might require aflibercept injections every 4 weeks in order to achieve a completely dry retina.
A novel vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-R2) topical eye drop, PAN-90806 (PanOptica, Inc.), may revolutionize the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration by making intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF drugs a thing of the past for certain patients and eliminating the risk associated with the intravitreal injections.
Adalimumab (Humira, AbbVie), an immunosuppressive biologic therapy, improves the symptoms of noninfectious active uveitis, but causes some adverse events and does not cure the disease, researchers say.
The inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap technique is not only a safe and effective procedure for treating macular holes, but compared with conventional ILM peeling, it is significantly more effective for achieving macular hole closure in certain situations, said Stanislao Rizzo, MD, at Retina Subspecialty Day 2016.
A permanent keratoprosthesis (KPro) can help restore the vision of patients with severe corneal disease, but clinicians must watch out for complications, according to Donald J. D’Amico, MD. Dr. D’Amico of the Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, described some of those complications in his Pyron Award Lecture during the American Society of Retina Specialists 2016 Annual Meeting.
Use of voretigene neparvovec in gene therapy demonstrates positive outcomes to treat a gene mutation in patients with retinal dystrophy.
Earlier treatment of patients with DME who have had visual acuity loss results in the need for fewer intravitreal injections of ranibizumab over the long term.