MaViS 1.2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Exploration of Macular Vision and Retinal Structure (MaViS)
IRAS ID
260207
Contact name
Paul Knox
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 10 months, 31 days
Research summary
Damage in and around the macula, a small patch of retina at the back of the eye, causes loss of vision and has a major impact on quality of life. Relatively common conditions like neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and diabetic macular oedema (DMO) cause such damage. Early treatment, which is most effective, depends on detecting and diagnosing disease early, but this requires appropriate tests. Ideally these tests should be easy to use from a patient’s point of view, and allow testing away from busy hospital eye clinics.
Tests of vision presented on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets provide a means of detecting macular disease. In the handheld radial shape discrimination (hRSD) test, which exploits our sensitivity to distorted shapes, participants distinguish a distorted circle from normal circles presented on the screen of an iPhone or an iPad. The development of macular disease, at least in the centre of the macula, interferes with this ability. A second test has recently become available, the contour macular perimetry (CMP) test, which exploits a similar ability to detect distrotions, but this time in lines rather than circles. The CMP test allows testing of the area of retina around the centre of the macula.
We propose to examine performance of the RSD and CMP tests in healthy participants and three different patient groups: patients with nAMD, DMO and vitreomacular traction (VMT). We will explore how the results of hRSD and CMP tests relate to each other as well as tests of visual acuity (VA). We will test a proportion of patients at two timepoints in order to assess whether these tests can detect change over time and treatment effects. The relationships between test results and the structure of the back of the eye will also be investigated.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0581
Date of REC Opinion
19 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion