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Prevention strategies may play important role in AMD management
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NEW ORLEANS — Therapies aimed at prevention may be more effective in reducing vision loss from age-related macular degeneration than those aimed at treatment of existing disease, said Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, speaking here.
“Prevention could prove to be an effective strategy for treating our patients with AMD or those who are at risk for the disease,” Dr. Sternberg told attendees of retina subspecialty day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
Currently available treatments for AMD are directed toward stabilization of visual loss in existing disease, Dr. Sternberg said. Initiatives directed toward disease delay or prevention may ultimately provide better, more efficient care, he said.
“Research directed towards delay or prevention may not only find that vision may be better preserved, but that [prevention therapy] has the potential to provide socioeconomic advantages,” Dr. Sternberg said.
He noted that studies on heredity and on the use of micronutrient supplements such as the formulation used in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study are important milestones in prevention research, but said “more studies are necessary.”