February marks Awareness Month for AMD, age-related macular degeneration. To highlight the work of Canadian ophthalmologists involved in the search for treatments, the Canadian Society of Ophthalmology reveals that promising new therapies are currently in clinical trials.
AMD is one of five serious eye diseases and accounts for 90% of new cases of blindness in the country. There are several forms of the disease.
It affects central vision and occurs when cells in the macula, a small area of the retina at the back of the eye, break down or deteriorate.
This does not affect peripheral vision, but rather the sharp and direct vision that is necessary to drive, read, recognize faces and observe details.
Progress
A number of global phase three clinical trials are evaluating new therapies with the goal of increasing sustainability, reducing the burden of treatment, and improving efficacy and safety.
This means that patients can have individualized treatments since some therapies work better for different patients.
Among the clinical trials, several are devoted to geographic atrophy, an incurable form of AMD that leads to significant vision loss.
In addition, rapid advances in imaging technologies allow oculo-visual care specialists to diagnose patients with early-onset, severe forms of wet AMD even before they develop symptoms.
Symptoms
“At first, there may be no vision changes, but as AMD progresses into advanced stages, blurred vision may begin to appear, such as a large dark spot, while straight lines may appear wavy or distorted,” says Dr. Colin Mann, president of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society.
Although age is the most important risk factor, people with one or more of these factors are likely to develop it :
- Blue eyes
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- High cholesterol
- Smoke
- Overweight
- Frequently eat foods high in saturated fat
- Family history of AMD
(J.B.)