myVisionTrack App in Development To Test Vision Changes in People With Macular Degeneration

DALLAS, August 2011 — An upcoming iPhone/iPod Touch app called myVisionTrack will give macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy patients the ability to monitor changes in their vision over time. This in turn can help their eye doctor adjust treatment as needed. 

The 90-second test displays three circles, one of which is different from the others. You would cover one eye, then touch the circle that looks different. The differentiation becomes more subtle as the test progresses, and your scores are formulated and stored in the device. Then you test the other eye.

If your scores indicate that your vision has changed significantly, then you are instructed to visit your eye doctor.

Usually people with degenerative eye disease use an Amsler grid which looks like graph paper with a dot in the middle. When focusing on the dot, they may see distortions or blurriness in the lines of the grid, and recording these can help track their vision changes. But the developers of myVisionTrack say their device is twice as sensitive as Amsler grids in detecting subtle vision changes.

Prototypes are still in testing now, and the app is expected to be available sometime in 2012.

Eating omega-3-rich fish may keep vision loss at bay

By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY

Dishing up fish and shellfish more often at meals could help some older adults protect their eyesight longer.
Eating more seafood rich in omega-3 fatty acids — such as oysters, crabs and tuna — appears to slow advanced macular degeneration, a common cause of age-related blindness, according to new research published in this month's Ophthalmology.

The findings are consistent with previous research suggesting omega-3 supplements and omega-rich diets protect vision in some people, says study author Bonnielin Swenor of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

"Our study shows a dietary effect, that people who had the highest weekly intake of fish and shellfish high in omega-3 fatty acids were significantly less likely to have advanced disease," Swenor says.

The observational study included 2,390 participants ages 65 to 84 on Maryland's Eastern Shore. They were asked to complete a questionnaire about diet habits in the previous year, including how much fish and shellfish they ate. Then they were evaluated for macular degeneration.

Although all of the participants averaged at least one serving of fish or shellfish a week, 68 people who had advanced macular degeneration, including blood vessel problems and atrophy in the retina, were significantly less likely to consume high omega-3 fish and seafoods. That suggests a fish-rich diet helps vision, Swenor says. Another 153 had intermediate-stage disease and 227 had early stages, while 1,942 had no macular degeneration.

"It's an important piece of evidence in the omega-3 story," says Steven Schwartz, Ahmanson professor of ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. "It's biologically plausible that the protective effect is from the omega-3s, but it's important to keep in mind that there are potentially other factors at play — genetics, environment and unknowns."

"The fact that it's consistent with other published reports makes it more credible," Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary retina specialist Ivana Kim says. She cautions that the small percentage of people in the study with advanced disease (3%) may lead to false conclusions.

Nixing tobacco, controlling blood pressure, eating leafy green vegetables and nuts, and seeing a retina specialist if you've already been diagnosed with macular degeneration are other lifestyle recommendations Schwartz says he offers patients. He cautions against self-dosing with omega-3 supplements, though.

"We don't recommend patients go out on their own and supplement like crazy. Talk with your ophthalmologist and get a personalized plan," Schwartz says.

Vitamin A pill 'could save the sight of millions as they get older'

By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 2:07 AM on 18th October 2010

A drug based on vitamin A could prevent millions from going blind as they get older, doctors believe.

The treatment was able to stop the most common cause of blindness in old age during trials.

Researchers behind the drug, fenretinide, found it halted the advance of age-related macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.

They targeted the most prevalent form of the condition, known as ‘dry’ AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula – the part of the retina used to see straight ahead.

The disease robs sufferers of their sight by creating a blackspot in the centre of their vision.

It can make it impossible to carry out everyday tasks such as reading, driving and watching television.

While the less common ‘wet’ form can be treated, nothing can be done to help the bulk of patients.

The U.S. research studied fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, the vitamin found in carrots, and which was originally designed to tackle arthritis.

Almost 250 men and women with dry AMD took a fenretinide pill a day or a placebo.

In the highest dose, the drug halted visual deterioration after a year. This suggests that while it was unable to do anything to stop cells that were already damaged from dying, it protected healthy cells. Although the research is still preliminary, it offers promise of a treatment for the disease.

It affects millions across the world and 300,000 Britons. The number of UK sufferers could more than treble to one million within 25 years as the population ages.

Dr Jason Slakter, of New York University School of Medicine, said: ‘There are currently no effective treatments for dry AMD and the need for finding one is grave.

‘Our study wasn’t designed to give a final answer.

‘It was designed to see if there was a biological effect and if the drug was working in the way we’d expect and to find out if it was well tolerated by patents.

‘I think we answered all of these points favourably. The bottom line is that I am excited about doing more studies.’

Further, larger trials are planned for the end of next year.

If the drug lives up to its initial promise, it could be in widespread use for dry AMD by 2015.

The treatment works because in normal circumstances the eye needs vitamin A to help it see. The retina naturally uses the vitamin and is helped to do so by a compound called retinol binding protein, or RBP.

However in some patients, the vitamin can produce poisons that kill the delicate cells, leading to loss of vision.

Fenretinide acts as a decoy, attaching itself to the RBP and stopping vitamin A from causing harm, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual conference heard.

Wet AMD, in which tiny blood vessels bleed into the retina, is less common, but progresses more rapidly, with central vision being lost within months of diagnosis.

Caught early enough, wet AMD can be stopped in its tracks by a technique called photodynamic therapy, which uses a light-activated dye to destroy abnormal blood vessels. Drug treatments are also available.

Fenretinide also halved the odds of the patients, who already had dry AMD, going on to develop wet AMD.

A spokesman for the research team said: ‘Years of use of fenretinide to treat cancers, rheumatoid arthritis have shown it to be safe and well-tolerated.’