Posted on 01/18/2022 10:48:37 AM PST by ConservativeMind
In a preliminary study of people with "wet" age-related macular degeneration, researchers report that as many as a third of those may be able to safely stop eye injection therapy without further vision loss.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision loss among people age 50 and older. The majority of those who lose vision from the condition have the "wet" form.
Treatment of wet AMD requires monthly or bimonthly injections of drugs called anti-VEGF—or anti-vascular endothelial growth factor—into the eye. Anti-VEGF agents can slow or stop the growth of the leaky blood vessels and, in most cases, effectively stave off further vision loss.
…Each patient had undergone a customized anti-VEGF injection schedule in which Sodhi monitored response to therapy. Eyes without treatment that showed no signs of fluid accumulation or advancing vision loss after at least 30 weeks of monitoring were considered safely weaned off anti-VEGF therapy.
At the end of a year, up to a third of the patients had stopped anti-VEGF treatments in at least one eye.
"Across the board, the patients who could enter a treatment pause did the best even though they were receiving no anti-VEGF drugs. They had better visual acuity, better gain of vision and less fluid in their retina," says Sodhi.
In a proof-of concept experiment, the researchers chose one of 172 proteins to investigate further—apolipoprotein B100. The researchers found that apolipoprotein B100 was present at much higher levels in the eyes of patients who had been weaned off anti-VEGF treatment. They further observed that the levels of this protein were higher in patients who did not develop wet AMD compared with patients who did. The researchers hypothesized this protein may help protect patients from developing wet AMD.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Results. At the end of 1 year, 38 of 122 eyes (31%) entered a treatment pause (≥30 weeks). Conversely, 21 of 122 eyes (17%) failed extension and required monthly treatment at the end of year 1. Proteomic analysis of aqueous fluid identified proteins that correlated with patients’ response to treatment, including proteins previously implicated in AMD pathogenesis. Interestingly, apolipoprotein-B100 (ApoB100), a principal component of drusen implicated in the progression of nonneovascular AMD, was increased in treated patients who required less frequent injections. ApoB100 expression was higher in AMD eyes compared with controls but was lower in eyes that develop choroidal neovascularization (CNV), consistent with a protective role. Accordingly, mice overexpressing ApoB100 were partially protected from laser-induced CNV.
Note that stopping the injections actually INCREASED vision.
“eye injection therapy”
Am I the only one freaked out by the thought of having that done?
It did nothing at all for my mom
I have gone about 12 times it aint fun this will be good news if true
Ping
BKMK
The poster boy is Marti Feldman!
I have had this done but for another condition. Not fun, but not quite as painful as you probably think it is.
I took my elderly mother to have that procedure done once a month for probably a couple years. The doc was a saint. But still...I cringed every time.
Yeah needles and eyes are like needles and genitals.......bad juju. 👎
My mom got worse but she was 98.
Yeah the first time is the worse, the eye was quite bloody the next few day days (like Biden’s). I go every six weeks now, not too bad with the five or six numbing drops beforehand. For me they have absolutely helped with blurriness but they switched to another med and might start treatment on the 2nd eye.
Good luck.
You too !
Thanks. Fortunately, my treatments ended.
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