Telescopic IOL device shows potential for improving quality of life in AMD patients

By increasing the central image on the retina and preserving peripheral vision, a telescopic IOL device may offer patients with age-related macular degeneration or other macular pathologies a potential optical rehabilitation solution, according to a pilot study.

"The surgery and visual recovery were quick, and the improvement in quality of life was significant," the authors said.

Amar Agarwal, MS, FRCS, FRCOphth, and colleagues evaluated outcomes for six eyes of six patients implanted with the Lipshitz macular implant (LMI, Optolight). In all cases, surgeons performed cataract surgery before implanting the device in the patients' worse eyes, according to the study.

All patients had bilateral macular pathology and a visual acuity worse than 20/200. Specifically, four eyes had AMD, one eye had myopic macular degeneration and one eye had macular dystrophy.

Investigators included only patients who showed an improvement in vision preoperatively after being tested with a 2.5x magnification external telescope, the authors noted.

Postoperatively, the endothelial cell count had decreased an average of 5.79%; the distance between the implant and the corneal endothelium averaged 3.15 mm.

At 6 months follow-up, distance vision had improved an average of 3.66 lines and the ETDRS score for near vision had improved an average of 50.83 logMAR, according to the study.

"The best corrected distance acuity and near acuity improved significantly (both P = .014)," the authors said.

"A good central fundus view was possible around the mirrors in all eyes," they said. "Fundus fluorescein angiography showed good visibility of the retina up to the midperiphery."

Scores for quality of life, measured using a questionnaire, also had significantly improved, from an average score of 11.16 preoperatively to 4.5 at final follow-up (P = .014), according to the study, published in the January edition of Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.