Age related macular degeneration 3 Flashcards
What happens to the thickness of the macula over the duration of treatment?
Decreases as the volume of fluid is reducing
Who can do treatment injections?
Doctors and now nurses (as doctors are busy and expensive)
What is dry AMD?
Persistent fibrosis (scarring) and atrophy of the retina
Difference between dry and wet AMD?
Wet–> fluid (usually blood) in or behind the macula
Dry–> scarring and atrophy of the retina
What is lost in dry AMD?
Outer retinal layer–> nothing to perceive light in that area of the retina
FDA or NICE approved treatments for geographic atrophy?
None rn
Different ways to classify geographic atrophy?
Amount of spots, pattern, location, size
Differing amounts of GA names?
Unifocal or multifocal
Different GA patterns?
Focal, patchy, banded, diffuse, diffuse trickling
Risk factors in the affected eye for a greater GA progression rate?
Larger baseline lesion size, multifocal lesion, specific patterns
Effects of advancing GA?
Struggle w/ everyday activities
Progressive vision loss
Which component of the immune system can be predictive for AMD development?
Polymorphisms in the complement system
Effects of complement system on AMD?
Activated in the eyes of patients w/ AMD and GA
Which treatments for AMD are aimed at complement, and which specific components?
Blocking C3 and C%
Issue with AMD treatments aimed at blocking complement?
NICE have said they are too expensive
Future AMD treatments?
Cell or gene therapy
Cell therapy for AMD?
Make IPS cell from patients skin
Convert IPS cell to retinal pigment epithelium as a sheet
Transplant sheet into the back of the eye
Photoreceptor therapy?
Make photoreceptors w/ IPS cells
Inject them subretinally
Why is the eye the most studied organ for stem cell and gene therapy?
Easiest to do, can operate on the eye, don’t need many cells, can track progress v well bc of eye observing techniques
Dry to wet conversion risk?
30% every year
