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Adaptive optics scanning laser may aid monitoring of retinal degeneration
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011;52(5):2219-2226.
Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy may be a sensitive measure of disease progression and treatment response for patients with retinal degeneration, according to a small study.
"Outcome measures with greater sensitivity than standard measures of visual function can provide are urgently needed to assess photoreceptors during disease progression and in response to experimental treatments such as [ciliary neurotrophic factor] in eyes with retinal degeneration," the study authors wrote.
The prospective study included three of 68 patients enrolled in the CNTF4 phase 2 trial: two patients with retinitis pigmentosa and one with Usher syndrome type 2. Patients were treated with sustained release ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF, Neurotech) in one eye and sham surgery in the other.
Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy showed no significant changes in visual acuity, visual field sensitivity or electroretinography responses at 24 months postop. However, outer retinal layers were significantly thicker in eyes treated with CNTF, while cone spacing increased by 2.9% more per year and cone density decreased by 9.1% more per year in sham-treated eyes.
Larger studies using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy are needed to assess the cone structure of CNTF-treated eyes, the study authors said.