I'm a medical student and my grandmother has wet macular degeneration. She asked me to look into treatment options for her as her vision is deteriorating and impinging on her quality of life. She's willing to travel to get the best care possible. I have tried to do some web searches for information, but was wondering if anyone on this forum could suggest a specific center and/or physician who are leading the research and innovative treatments in this field. Any posts or PMs would be extremely appreciated. Thanks!
wet macular degeneration
- Thread starter lyra
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Depending on the type of choroidal neovascular membrane, the treatment options are: laser, photodynamic therapy (PDT), submacular surgery (in rare cases, but not generally advised), or observe.
Some medical centers are investigating the use of anecortave acetate in the treatment of CNVM.
Use this ophthalmologist finder to find a retina specialist close to you:
http://aaophp.aao.org/doclocator/
Some medical centers are investigating the use of anecortave acetate in the treatment of CNVM.
Use this ophthalmologist finder to find a retina specialist close to you:
http://aaophp.aao.org/doclocator/
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What has been people's experience with Visudyne (Verteporforin) for wet AMD? What are your thoughts on the new drugs for AMD that are likely to be approved in the near future (i.e. Macugen)?
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yagmd said:
We have found that many patients with predominantly classic foveal or juxtafoveal CNV lesions related to AMD tend to do well with PDT therapy. Lesions usually regress and vision may improve or at least stabilize. However, over time, we have found that recurrence can be high, and we have many patients who have required multiple treatments, including intravitreal steroid with PDT. Several patients have noted a quite large drop in acuity immediately following PDT. This is a very smll percentage. We are not sure of the exact reason for this, but it has been reported by others as well.
PDT has been a nice addition to the rather limited arsenal of treatments we have for AMD. I really cannot comment yet on Macugen and other still investigational therapies other than I hope we have more successful treatments and other options to offer AMD patients in the future.
Some of the retina guys here do macular translocation procedures and submacular surgery, I am not sure what results and complications they have noted.
Lastly, I would like to say that as important as treating the CNV lesions for these patients, especially those with very poor central acuity, has been the blind rehab training programs for them. Patients are trained in the use of magnification devices, how to change their home environment, and how to function better in the world with the vision they have. Training patients to use eccentric retinal foci can be beneficial as it is not natural for them to do this, despite their large central acuity loss
