Active clinical trials for "Macular Degeneration"

This study will test a new method for preventing worsening of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and for developing imaging methods to follow the very earliest microscopic changes in the disease. The macula is the part of the retina in the back of the eye that determines central vision. AMD can impair central vision, affecting a person's ability to read, drive, and carry out daily activities. Some studies suggest that cumulative exposure to sunlight increases the risk for progression of AMD to the late stage that is often characterized by poor central vision. This study will determine if wearing glasses with a yellow filter over one eye and a red-violet filter over the other eye when outdoors will decrease the rate of change of early-stage AMD in one or both eyes. Patients early-stage AMD who have had cataract surgery in both eyes with implanted lenses may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following procedures: Wear the filter glasses when outdoors between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Record the time of day and light environment when they use the glasses. Have an eye examination, pictures of the retina, and a medical history taken at the beginning of the study and at set intervals during the study. The study lasts at least 12 months and may be extended for a longer period of time....

With the aging of the population, the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) eye disease has resulted in a large number of people suffering from central vision loss. In fact, the most prevalent cause of blindness among veterans is AMD. Since the number of elderly veterans is expected to double in the next 10 years, loss of vision due to AMD is also expected to proportionally and considerably escalate. People with impaired vision have difficulty with daily activities, such as, reading, driving, and recognizing faces. The goal of the research project is to provide information on factors that contribute to visual impairment. This knowledge is necessary for the development of innovative approaches that will optimize the benefit of vision rehabilitation techniques, aimed at improving vision, thus allowing our veterans to maintain function and productivity. The findings from the proposed research will benefit our veterans and all aging people.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the Western World. The etiology and pathogenesis of this disease remain largely unknown. In Europe about two million people suffer from AMD. According to the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) the disease can be classified into early, intermediate and late. Early age-related macular degeneration is characterized by the presence of small or medium-sized drusen and/or retinal pigmentary abnormalities. Intermediate age-related macular degeneration is characterized by large drusen or numerous medium-size drusen and/or geographic atrophy not extending to the center of the macula. Late age-related macular degeneration can be either atrophic with extension to the macula or neovascular. The late form of the disease is associated with a pronounced loss of visual acuity. In the recent years several studies focused on risk factors for late AMD and a recent systematic review and meta-analysis reported risk factors for AMD based on 16 studies in almost 114000 subjects. Strong and consistent associations with late AMD for found for increasing age, current cigarette smoking, previous cataract surgery, and a family history of AMD. Consistent associations between late AMD and higher body mass index, history of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and higher plasma fibrinogen were also found, but the association was weak. Inconsistent associations were found for gender, ethnicity, diabetes, iris color, history of cerebrovascular disease, serum total and HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Evidence has also accumulated that other factors influence the risk for AMD. Several genetic risk factors have been identified in the last years including genes in the alternative complement pathway and the RMS2/HTRA1 region. In addition, post-hoc analysis of data from the AREDS study has indicated that reduced intake of the omega-3 free fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid and docsahexaenoic acid are associated with the risk of late AMD thereby supporting previous population based studies. The AREDS study also revealed that reduced intake of the macular pigment lutein and zeaxanthin may be associated with late AMD, again supporting previous population-based studies. Finally, 2 small studies indicate that reduced choroidal blood flow is associated with an increased risk of developing late AMD. Less data are available for the progression of early or intermediate AMD and the associated risk factors. This is at least partially related to the problems in quantifying progression of drusen size and volume. In the recent years, however, significant efforts have been achieved in optical coherence tomography (OCT)-based methods for quantifying drusen progression and drusen volume. Polarization-sensitive OCT is the most promising of these approaches and will be used to quantify drusen area and volume in the present study.

An observational study is designed to evaluate the clinical performance of VeriSee AMD for potential age-related macular degeneration (AMD) screening from color fundus photography images. The sensitivity and specificity of VeriSee AMD's automated image analysis for screening AMD will be determined through the comparison with the gold standard, which is the judgment of AMD by the ophthalmologists.

REALIZE was a single-arm retrospective cohort study which described treatment patterns with brolucizumab, including treatment intervals between anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections before and after a switch to brolucizumab. This study was conducted using German patient-level prescription data and the prescription date was used as a proxy for anti-VEGF injection date. The study period was defined from the date of the first available anti-VEGF injection in the dataset to 30 November 2021. The index date for each patient was the date of the first brolucizumab injection, which could be anytime between 01 March 2020 (since brolucizumab became available in Germany for use outside of clinical trials in March 2020) and 30 November 2021. The date of the patient's first neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) diagnosis was assumed to be the date of the first anti-VEGF prescription in the database for that patient, from January 2015 onwards.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of life of AMD patients related to vision using the short version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25), patients' social support, and their relationship with demographic and clinical variables.

The investigators would like to know if different imaging devices can improve the quality of images and visualization of imaged tissues. Also, the investigators would like to find out whether these changes are useful in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases. Using images of previous participants will allow us to demonstrate the advancement of different technologies, as well be used to allow comparisons between current technologies.

Comparison between retinal measurements, done by the RT (Retinal Thickness) imaging and a commercial OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography)

The purpose of this observational study lies in the analysis of a treat-and-extend injection scheme with intravitreal aflibercept (i.e. injection into the eye), as applied in routine practice in previously untreated patients diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To assess the influence of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) administration on vitreomacular interface- and retinal morphology in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to identify morphological markers potentially influencing disease prognosis. Methods: 43 patients (51 eyes) with treatment naïve neovascular AMD subsequently treated with Bevacizumab 1.25mg (in 0.05ml of solution) were monitored until month 12 of follow-up. Following a loading dose of 3 monthly intravitreal anti-VEGF injections, patients were treated as-needed [pro re nata (PRN)]. Functional and morphological changes were assessed using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT).