Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
From new keratoconus treatments to new uses for OCTA, these are the news stories and studies that caught our attention this week…
Keratoconus treatment. Last week, Glaukos announced that Epioxa (Epi-on), its next-generation corneal cross-linking iLink therapy for the treatment of keratoconus, has successfully met the second phase III confirmatory pivotal trial’s pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint. Link
OcuClick first. The UK’s National Health Service has delivered a world-first age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment – OcuClick – on a patient in a real-world setting. The pre-filled syringe, which ensures a precise dosing of Eylea 8 mg for wet AMD, was used by Richard Gale, an internationally recognized ophthalmologist and AMD expert, at the Newmedica Lincolnshire eye clinic in the UK. Link
OCTA for NPDR. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could be used to detect microvascular changes for nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy, says a new Ophthalmology Science study. Investigating six-month progression of capillary hypoperfusion in advanced NPDR using a variety of imaging techniques, the Portugal-based team of researchers – based at the University of Coimbra, the Polytechnic of Porto, and other institutions – used OCTA and microaneurysm counting to reveal increased retinal capillary nonperfusion and microaneurysm formations in 51 NPDR eyes. Link
POAG risk factors. An international team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the University of Florence, Italy, have observed that both obstructive sleep apnea and helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections should both be considered high risk elements for primary open-angle glaucoma progression. The team conducted a full text screening of 138 systematic reviews over the past decade to provide this more comprehensive understanding of the non-genetic risk factors involved in POAG. Link
The link between air pollution and glaucoma. Using UK Biobank cohort information taken from the last 12 years, a new IOVS study has investigated the association between ambient air pollution exposure and the risk of developing glaucoma. Analyzing data from nearly half a million participants, the Moorfields Eye Hospital team found that increased exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was linked to a higher risk of glaucoma (a 10 percent increased risk was observed in individuals in the highest exposure quartile compared with the lowest). Link
