Assessing the benefit of ranibizumab treatment for AMD - A follow-up
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing the benefit of ranibizumab treatment for AMD - A follow-up
IRAS ID
199112
Contact name
Antony Morland
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research & Enterprise Office
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the UK. It affects the elderly in large numbers with over 10% of those aged over 80 contracting the disease. The ‘wet’ type when new blood vessels leak over the centre of the back of the eye, is particularly debilitating because it progressively affects the centre of our vision, leaving a ‘hole’ in the region which we use to read and see in fine detail. It can happen very quickly without warning and progress very rapidly. Without detailed vision, a patient’s quality of life is severely affected with everyday activities, like reading, watching TV or driving, becoming impossible. Of the patients with the wet disease, many can undergo treatment that can stabilize and often improve some visual capacities. For example, research has shown that patients can frequently read more letters on the eye chart following treatment. One aspect of vision that has remained under-explored however is the size of the ‘hole’ in vision and how this responds to treatment. Investigations of this aspect of vision are hampered by the fact that conventional measures of the ‘hole’ in vision can change as a result of practice affects that occur when testing patients and the imprecise methods that are used to measure visual function. We aim to assess the 'hole' in vision with objective measurements that are not susceptible to practice effects. This will allow us to capture how well the treatment shrinks the 'hole' in vision and therefore how much it helps the patient see. Primarily, this study will establish whether treatment over long periods of time show greater changes to visual performance. This may help determine dosing frequency of the medication used to treat wet macular degeneration.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
16/NI/0258
Date of REC Opinion
22 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion