By Larry Greenemeier
Those suffering from advanced stages of macular
degeneration may by the end of this year be able to halt and even reverse
vision loss caused by the age-related eye disease. If, that is, the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) gives ophthalmologists the green light to
implant new miniature telescopelike devices in patients' damaged eyes.
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The implantable mini-scope, developed by Saratoga,
Calif.-based VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, works with the eye's cornea
like a telephoto system, rendering an enlarged retinal image designed to
reduce the area of diminished vision. Once implanted, the device protrudes
0.1 to 0.5 millimeter beyond the surface of the pupil but does not touch
the corneal endothelium, a layer of cells lining the back of the cornea.
This is not an easy fix, however, and surgeons are developing special techniques to properly and swiftly implant the device without damaging the eye. The device is a compound telescope system that consists of a glass cylinder that is 4.4 millimeters in length and 3.6 millimeters in diameter and houses wide-angle micro-optics. The cylinder fits into a one-piece polymethylmethacrylate case with two rigid polymethylmethacrylate haptics that protrude like tiny arms and hold the device in place behind the eyeball's natural lens. Polymethylmethacrylate is a clear plastic that is traditionally used as a shatterproof replacement for glass in places such as hockey rinks and large aquariums. The tiny telescope is virtually undetectable because it is implanted inside the eye, and mostly covered by the iris, the colored portion of the eye. During a 24-month clinical trial, Colby (and fellow ophthalmologists David Chang of the University of California, San Francisco, Doyle Stulting of Emory University's Eye Center in Atlanta, and Stephen S. Lane of Associated Eye Care in Stillwater, Minn.) developed and tested a preferred technique for implanting the device to most effectively treat bilateral end-stage macular degeneration, which most commonly afflicts people over the age of 55. The device can treat either form of age-related macular degeneration: the dry stage, where the delicate tissues of the macula become thinned and slowly lose function, or the less common wet stage that's caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels behind the macula. |