Saturday, October 30, 2010

Telescope Implant Improves Vision in Macular Degeneration

by Kathleen Louden
(Chicago, Illinois) — People with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have improved visual acuity and quality of life after receiving an intraocular implant containing a tiny telescope in 1 eye, new research shows. An ophthalmologist who participated in the clinical trials presented the unpublished results here at the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Middle East Africa Council of Ophthalmology 2010 Joint Meeting.

The telescope implant improves vision in "a disease in which the patient is legally blind and has no surgical or medical alternatives," the presenter, Stephen Lane, MD, told Medscape Medical News. He was a medical monitor for the pivotal trials and is an adjunct professor of ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

In July, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the telescope implant, also called the implantable miniature telescope (VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies), to improve vision in some patients with end-stage AMD.

Telescope Magnifies Images More Than 2 Times

"The reason why this [device] works is a magnification effect, so the central scotoma can be overcome," Dr. Lane told meeting attendees.

This pea-sized implant, which replaces the natural lens, magnifies images greater than 2 times and projects the images onto a healthy part of the retina, according to the device manufacturer. It is available in 2 models: 1 that provides 2.2 times the magnification and another that gives 2.7 times magnification. Patients use the eye that received the implant for central vision and use the untreated fellow eye for peripheral vision.

To be eligible for this class 3 medical device, patients must have bilateral geographic atrophy or "post-wet" AMD disciform scars and must not yet have had cataract surgery, although they can have cataract, Dr. Lane said. Other eligibility criteria, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, include age 75 years or older and "stable severe to profound vision impairment" resulting from bilateral central scotoma.

In a multicenter clinical trial of more than 200 patients who received the implant, the mean best corrected visual acuity before implantation was worse than 20/300, Dr. Lane said. More than 80% of patients had at least a 2-line improvement in visual acuity on the Snellen chart 1 year after surgery, and 46% of patients improved 4 lines or more at 1 year, he reported. Most of those patients, according to Dr. Lane, maintained their improved visual acuity 2 years postoperatively (75% with 2 lines or better and 43% with 4 or more lines of improvement).

"Quality of life gains also are clinically meaningful," Dr. Lane said. "Patients were less dependent, better able to recognize people, and better able to...do activities of daily living."

Endothelial Cell Loss Possible

A possible complication of the implant is the loss of corneal endothelial cells. In the study, there was a 20% loss of epithelial cells, which Dr. Lane called "a little high." He said ophthalmologists should inform their patients that substantial endothelial cell loss can lead to corneal decompensation and the need for a corneal transplant.

A Michigan ophthalmologist who did not participate in the studies, George Williams, MD, said in an interview that study investigators told him that most patients in the studies tolerated the implant well and found it very helpful.

However, the device is for "a select group of patients with end-stage AMD," said Dr. Williams, chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Royal Oak, Michigan.

He mentioned, as did Dr. Lane, that patients need to undergo an evaluation to determine whether they can benefit from this device, which involves a trial with an external telescope.

"Only 1 in 5 patients who are screened actually end up getting the device," Dr. Williams told Medscape Medical News.

After the surgery, patients must receive training with a low-vision specialist. "It's hard to walk around with a telescope in your eye," Dr. Williams said.

Patients who did not tolerate the implant were those who could not adjust to using 1 eye for near-vision tasks and the other eye for distance vision, Dr. Lane said during the meeting.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Gene Therapy/ Treatment for Visual Impairment

Gene Therapy For Visual Impairment
By: Mark Burnsy

In modern society where most people are educated, eyesight problems inevitably proliferate, due to the fact that they have spent more time in reading. TV and computers are also incentives of the skyrocketed eyesight problems. Owing to the invention of eyeglasses and contact lenses, people with nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia are able to view a clear world as well. Additionally, fast developed, eyeglass manufactures achieve advancement in glare reduction and unwanted wavelengths of light elimination.

However, eyeglasses and contacts can not serve as helps for vision improvement of people suffering from eye diseases, such as Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy. Recently, a medical treatment is developed, which is also able to treat visual impairments. Avastin is a drug that was originally used in Colo-rectal cancer treatments but is found to have an ability to improve the vision in patients with Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy and other vascular related retinal diseases. What's more, many other new drugs are brought about in succession as well, for example, the non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs can reduce retinal inflammation and cyst formations.

There are some people whose eye diseases arise from within the patients, genetic and congenital disorders. They pose a great challenge to eye doctors and surgeons. Luckily, gene therapy is found to be able to dramatically improve those patients' vision. The procedure is performed at the Scheie Eye Institute in Philadelphia and the patients formerly suffering from Leber's Congenital Amaurosis claim that he could read letters on an eye chart already after such a procedure. Then the news was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, on which the cause of Leber's Congenital Amaurosis and how the surgery achieves an success are recorded. It is stated that a lack of RPE 65 gene prevents protein production which is required for the retinal tissue to absorb and process the light into vision. A normal RPE is injected in the gene therapy to restore the protein production. After two weeks, the patients can mostly view more clearly than they did before. Possible complications of gene therapy include sensitivity to light.

In spit that it is just a successful case of Leber's Congenital Amaurosis treatment, it gives hopes to other eye diseases originated from gene disorders. Researches concerned are under procession. The application of gene therapy in visual impairment will be a great success in the near future.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

NeoVista Presents One-Year Study Results of Novel Therapy for Treatment of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

NeoVista, Inc. made public today at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting the company’s one-year results from their MERITAGE Study. This study was designed to examine NeoVista’s novel Epimacular Brachytherapy procedure when used in patients who require chronic therapy with anti-VEGF agents on an ongoing basis to control Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Wet AMD). The study enrolled patients who had as many as 38 prior injections of anti-VEGF therapy before receiving Epimacular Brachytherapy. The study population had a trend toward losing vision, even with regular anti-VEGF therapy in the year prior to enrollment. Prior to entry into the study, all patients were required to have received a loading dose of 3 monthly anti-VEGF injections and then a minimum of 5 additional injections in the 12 months preceding enrollment or 3 injections in the 6 months preceding enrollment. This ensured that the full benefit of anti-VEGF therapy was realized prior to entry into the study.

Study results (n=53) to date suggest that a single procedure of Epimacular Brachytherapy can stabilize visual acuity in a majority of this patient population (79%) while decreasing the number of anti-VEGF injections required. Most importantly, 47% of patients enrolled in the study experienced some improvement in their visual acuity while 10% of patients gained 15 or more letters of visual acuity at 12 months. This improvement is significant in patients that have been receiving chronic anti-VEGF treatment with no vision improvement in the year prior to enrollment, as compared to all other trials that are treating patients with newly onset disease.

The study results also pointed to a favorable trend with respect to a reduced number of anti-VEGF injections following delivery of Epimacular Brachytherapy (mean of 3.9) versus the period of time leading up to Epimacular Brachytherapy intervention (mean of 12.3). In addition, 25% of patients remained injection-free at 12 months following the Epimacular Brachytherapy procedure.

“MERITAGE is the first of its kind study designed to evaluate the potential role of the NeoVista device in treating chronic disease and decreasing the burden of treatment while maintaining or improving visual acuity,” said John N. Hendrick, President and CEO of NeoVista. “Data from recent randomized trials suggest that most patients suffering from Neovascular AMD will require anti-VEGF treatment on an ongoing basis for an indefinite period of time. We are very excited that our procedure, Epimacular Brachytherapy, not only has the potential to significantly decrease the number of injections administered but may also improve visual acuity in a significant percentage of this patient population.”

In contrast to other forms of radiation therapy for Neovascular AMD, NeoVista’s approach delivers a focused dose of energy directly to the wet AMD lesion without damaging the adjacent healthy retinal vasculature. Utilizing strontium 90, the targeted energy is delivered to a an area up to 3 mm in depth and up to 5.4 mm in diameter. Importantly for patients, the systemic exposure to radiation is minimal and highly controlled to a local area. The effective dose to the entire body from NeoVista’s device is less than that from a typical chest x-ray. There were a limited number of adverse events in the trial, which were related to the surgical vitrectomy procedure, rather than Epimacular Brachytherapy.

The MERITAGE Study was conducted in two centers in the Unites States, one center in the United Kingdom, and two centers in Israel. Principal investigators were Pravin U. Dugel (USA), Michael D. Bennett (USA), Timothy L. Jackson (UK), Adiel Barack (Israel), and Dov Weinberger (Israel). The data was presented by Pravin Dugel, MD, managing partner, Retinal Consultants of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ. “The potential of this treatment is enormous,” said Dr. Dugel, “as this patient population represents the majority of patients that I see in my clinic each and every day. I believe that Epimacular Brachytherapy, unlike anti-VEGF therapy alone, offers a broad spectrum of activity and may therefore inhibit multiple disease processes involved in the pathology of wet AMD. To observe not only a reduction in treatment burden, but also an improvement in visual acuity in almost half of these difficult to treat patients at the one year mark is quite encouraging.”

NeoVista completed enrollment in the company’s first pivotal trial, CABERNET (CNV Secondary to AMD Treated with BEta RadiatioN Epiretinal Therapy). CABERNET is a multicenter, randomized, controlled study that has enrolled over 490 subjects at 45 sites worldwide, and is evaluating the safety and efficacy of NeoVista’s therapy delivered concomitantly with the FDA-approved anti-VEGF therapy Lucentis® (ranibizumab) versus Lucentis alone.

A second pivotal trial MERLOT (Macular EpiRetinal Brachytherapy versus Lucentis® Only Treatment), sponsored by King’s College Hospital, London, England, (Principal Investigator-Mr. Tim Jackson), is being conducted in 20 centers throughout the United Kingdom. MERLOT is also a randomized, controlled study, with targeted patient enrollment of 363 subjects. This study is analyzing the effects of Epimacular Brachytherapy used concomitantly with as needed Lucentis injections versus continued Lucentis therapy alone, in patients who require chronic therapy with anti-VEGF agents on an ongoing basis to control Wet AMD.

About NeoVista, Inc.

NeoVista, Inc. is a privately held medical device company based in Newark, California. The company’s first commercial product, VIDION® ANV® Therapy System, is cleared for commercial use in all markets that accept a CE Mark.

For more information about the company, or this novel therapy, please visit the company’s Web site at www.neovistainc.com.

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Movie: Twelve Kingdoms – Chapter 7 – Reflection http://bit.ly/9KqKJi – by kitanoau (Kitano Holdings P/L)

The Twelve Kingdoms episode 39-1 (Audio English) /45

The Twelve Kingdoms episode 39-1 (Audio English) /45
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Tagged as: AgeRelated, Degeneration, Macular, Neovascular, NeoVista, novel, OneYear, presents..., results, Study, Therapy, Treatment

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

MrJustletmeseeit October 16, 2010 at 12:39 AM

@gr8Sweetfox Ok, what if we stuff the nuke with pixies and unicorns?

Reply
gr8Sweetfox October 16, 2010 at 1:23 AM

@MrJustletmeseeit that wouldnt happen. at least the trees.. i mean this special trees are never affected.. they seem to be impossible to destroy

Reply
MrJustletmeseeit October 16, 2010 at 1:55 AM

@gr8Sweetfox what if the nuke slips thru and detonates while tentei is yawning? or getting it on with some hot goddess…

Reply
RokenMusic October 16, 2010 at 1:56 AM

@gr8Sweetfox As for your question about the princess’s palace song. I do not believe an official attempt of dubbing it into English was ever made. There might be fan made videos floating out there. I recommend you search the first line of the song’s lyrics for these. Good luck.

Reply
RokenMusic October 16, 2010 at 2:33 AM

@gr8Sweetfox 12 Kingdoms is very unique in that it is what I would like to call “a Fantasy Opera”, in which the characters are vivid and the central storyline lives within an epic world of continuous stories. This kind of anime are very hard sells because it requires the anime studios to invest heavily and risk utter failure. However, there are a few out there that are on similar caliber. One is Legend of Galactic Heroes. Unfortunately it is science fiction rather than fantasy.

Reply
gr8Sweetfox October 16, 2010 at 3:00 AM

@RokenMusic something like 12 kingdoms with anime?
ps, you were fast. And maybe you know something about the english dubbed version of Sho something. You know that song about a doll… maybe you know something i want it in english so badly ugh i would even pay for it ;__;

Reply
RokenMusic October 16, 2010 at 3:29 AM

@gr8Sweetfox EVA: Neon Genesis Evangelion
LoGH: Legend of Galactic Heroes
Ronin Kenshin
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Black Lagoon
and the list goes on depending on your tastes.

Reply
gr8Sweetfox October 16, 2010 at 3:58 AM

@RokenMusic ok , what is EVA, LoGH, and etc. ?

Reply
gr8Sweetfox October 16, 2010 at 4:49 AM

@MrJustletmeseeit nah it would not. Tentei protects their world.

Reply
MrJustletmeseeit October 16, 2010 at 5:16 AM

man… one of todays nukes would take that whole world out =(((

Reply
maihoua19 October 16, 2010 at 6:01 AM

i always felt exciting watching this movie and love it

Reply
endlesssonata October 16, 2010 at 6:25 AM

I love all the Oooohhhh and Aaaahhhhh. So freaking cool!

Reply
endlesssonata October 16, 2010 at 6:55 AM

WOW this one is my favorite ep ever! Youko’s entre is soooo coolll. Now that IS how a queen reveal herself!

Reply
Goatmon October 16, 2010 at 7:43 AM

Youko is the boss, and she’s layin’ down the law.

Reply
Goatmon October 16, 2010 at 7:49 AM

@chebozz Fantasy/Adventure?

Reply
ZRaya99 October 16, 2010 at 8:27 AM

i like how they all laught

Reply
enariuzai October 16, 2010 at 8:51 AM

早く続きが観たいです、続編が再開されたみたいだし^^

Reply
afny19 October 16, 2010 at 9:11 AM

if the real world have ruler like this, this world can be a better place… so wise and noble even if that person use to be just a commoner ^^,

Reply
brokenating October 16, 2010 at 10:00 AM

i really love this episode! :D

Reply
zeroEDJE October 16, 2010 at 10:08 AM

For a second there I thought we were going to see the intro.

Reply
chebozz October 16, 2010 at 10:33 AM

hmmm…what is the genre of this anime??

Reply
mancdg627aol October 16, 2010 at 11:26 AM

I love watching this episode over and over again it’s so cool when keiki showed up and youko questioned general jinrai hahaha… The best anime i watched on its genre… I will buy the books an read it…. ^^

Reply
RokenMusic October 16, 2010 at 12:05 PM

@gabaroo59: No, not really. Twelve kingdoms is one of the best light novel series and anime series. Up there with EVA, LoGH, and etc.

I’m surprised that they didn’t do a half bad job at dubbing this anime. The translation is pretty accurate to the original. Although Yoko’s voice is supposed to be more boyish.

Reply
bollywoodgirl21 October 16, 2010 at 12:16 PM

I love yokos speach in the beginning, she just rules!!!

Reply
tearsangelz October 16, 2010 at 12:54 PM

i totally agree<3 all the beasts in this anime is just so awesome!

Reply

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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Zeaxanthin For Macular Degeneration Prevention and Treatment for Dry AMD

by Forrestal

Most ophthalmologists recommend the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin for macular degeneration that is age related, commonly referred to as AMD. It is unusual for doctor’s to recommend nutritional supplements of any kind, unless a person has an outright deficiency, but AMD is a unique condition.

There are no effective treatments for one type of AMD (dry), but there are some partially effective treatments for wet AMD. Together, these two are the major causes of blindness in the elderly. The wet form is the most severe, if not treated early.

In wet AMD, blood vessels grow up and behind the retina, an area responsible for gathering light and transmitting signals to the brain, resulting in sight. The blood vessels often rupture and leak blood and protein below the macula, a very sensitive area within the retina.

Eventually, bleeding, leaking and scarring causes irreversible damage to the light receptors (rods and cones). Rapid vision loss is experienced if it is left untreated. Laser treatment and drugs that inhibit blood vessel growth are usually recommended.

Generally, doctors recommend lutein and zeaxanthin for macular degeneration that is of the dry type. Dry AMD is much more common than wet. It is caused by a build up of yellow deposits called drusen on the retina.

In nature lutein and zeaxanthin are pigments or colors. They are normally present in the retina, with zeaxanthin being concentrated in the macula and lutein more highly concentrated in the periphery of the retina. There roles within the eye are not well understood, but they seem to help reduce or prevent the build up of drusen.

Drusen is similar in composition to the deposits that are found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and the plaque that is present in atherosclerosis. People with either of those two conditions have a higher risk of developing dry AMD.

Some doctors recommend taking lutein and zeaxanthin for macular degeneration prevention, particularly to their patients that have a family history of the disease. But, since the drusen are similar to the deposits that cause Alzheimer’s and heart disease, other antioxidants may be beneficial, as well.

Curcumin, an antioxidant present in the spice turmeric, is currently being studied for its benefit in Alzheimer’s disease. Not only does it prevent the accumulation of the plaque, it breaks it up. It might be able to break up the drusen in AMD, too.

One study indicates that the ideal combination of nutrients is omega 3 fatty acids, beta carotene, vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin for macular degeneration. Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly DHA, are the most abundant fatty acids present in the retina. Beta-carotene is converted by the body to vitamin A, which is essential for good vision. Vitamin E is well-known for its antioxidant activity.

Prevention is worth a pound of cure, they say. In order to prevent AMD, people should lower their total fat intake, and increase their nutrient intake. This may help reduce the risk of many other diseases, as well. Taking zeaxanthin for macular degeneration prevention is a good idea. Taking a multi-nutritional supplement that contains it, is a great one.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Combination PDT, anti-VEG effective for choroidal neovascularization due to AMD

October 4, 2010
A customized combination of photodynamic therapy and intravitreal ranibizumab treatment for choroidal neovascularization due to age-related macular degeneration achieved good visual results with a decreased need for re-treatment, a study found.

"Combined customized PDT and ranibizumab treatment can achieve visual results similar to those obtained with intravitreal monotherapy with the advantage of fewer intravitreous injections and reduced potential for adverse effects," the study said.

In the nonrandomized, prospective, interventional study, 53 eyes of 53 patients with subfoveal and juxtafoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to AMD were treated with PDT and intravitreal Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech).

At the end of the 12-month follow-up period, subjects' mean visual acuity had improved by 7.2 letters, and 78.8% maintained or improved their initial vision.

"The central retinal thickness and choroidal neovascularization size decreased to 118 µm and 0.26 disc areas, respectively, from baseline to 12 months," the study authors said.

Sixty-five PDT treatments (mean of 1.22 per patient) were performed, and 126 doses of ranibizumab were injected (mean of 2.37 per patient).

In 21 cases, only a single initial dose of PDT and ranibizumab was required.