Dark adaptation and Retinal Topography in AMD (DART-AMD) v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of structural features on dark adaptation impairment in intermediate age-related macular degeneration
IRAS ID
353203
Contact name
Alison Binns
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
City St George's University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the disease stage that precedes advanced AMD, and which is associated with increased risk of progression to visual loss. For this reason, there is interest in developing treatments which will slow progression from intermediate to advanced AMD. In order to assess new treatments in clinical trials, it is necessary to use sensitive measures of progression. One measure which has shown promise is the rate at which eyes adjust their sensitivity after moving from high to low light conditions – the rate of dark adaptation. This has been shown, on average, to be substantially slower in people with intermediate AMD than in people of the same age without the condition. However, it is very variable between people – even when they have the same disease severity. One explanation is that the localised changes which are seen on the retina of people with AMD affect their rates of dark adaptation. We propose to test this hypothesis by comparing the rates of dark adaptation in retinal locations showing specific structural changes, to those which do not. We will also compare how rapidly changes in adaptation rates occur between these different retinal locations. We have developed software which will allow us to use a pre-existing clinical device (a microperimeter), in conjunction with specialised retinal imaging called Optical Coherence Tomography, to precisely measure dark adaptation at the required retinal locations. 72 people with intermediate AMD will take part in the study. They will be tested at baseline, and followed up 12 months later. A subgroup of 30 will also have their dark adaptation assessed 2 weeks after their baseline visit, enabling us to assess repeatability. We anticipate that understanding of the relationship between rates of adaptation and structural features of AMD will improve the utility of this test in clinical trials.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/PR/0319
Date of REC Opinion
22 Apr 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion