AMD Experts Unveil Treatment Guidelines Consensus Paper
Group of optometric thought-leaders issue much-needed advice in response to startling AMD statistics.
MIDDLETOWN, PA, October 12, 2017– MacuLogix®, Inc., the only company to equip eye care professionals with the instrument, tools and education needed to effectively diagnose and treat patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), announces the unveiling of “Practical Guidelines for the Treatment of AMD.”
MacuLogix assembled leading educators and private practice clinicians to develop practical, evidence-based guidelines that can be implemented in any practice to help eliminate vision loss caused by AMD. The full report is published in the October issue of Review of Optometry.
“A recent study published in JAMA Ophthalmology shows that optometrists and ophthalmologists alike fail to catch AMD 25% of the time.1 Furthermore, 30% of the missed diagnosed eyes in the study had large drusen,” said Jeffry Gerson, OD, FAAO, chair of the clinical advisory committee that developed the consensus paper. “By coming together to further classify the stages of AMD and document the best practical management guidelines based on the latest research, I feel we can have a significant impact on how optometry manages and treats this devastating disease.”
“This research clearly illustrates that subjective assessment leads to a surprisingly high rate of missed diagnoses when doctors rely on structural testing alone,” said William McPhee, President and CEO of MacuLogix. “Because our customers are diagnosing AMD earlier and with greater confidence based on our dark adaptation functional test, we are excited to provide another tool to help them improve patient outcomes.”
Indeed, studies have shown that as many as 78% of patients are first diagnosed with AMD having already suffered irreversible vision loss, and nearly half of them are first diagnosed with an acuity of 20/200 or worse.2,3 The new “Practical Guidelines for the Treatment of AMD” offers an easy-to-follow approach that any primary eye care practitioner can follow to improve outcomes.
Attendees of the 2017 American Academy of Optometry Meeting can visit MacuLogix at Booth 359 to pick up a free reprint of the Practical Guidelines Report. Electronic version is available here for download: Practical Guidelines for the Treatment of AMD
About MacuLogix
MacuLogix, Inc. equips eye care professionals with the instrument, tools and education needed to effectively diagnose and treat patients with AMD. By leveraging the science of dark adaptation through its AdaptDx, MacuLogix is working to eliminate preventable blindness caused by AMD, a chronic, progressive disease that impacts over 170 million people worldwide and goes undiagnosed in 25 percent of patients. Through its AdaptDx dark adaptation biomarker, MacuLogix enables eye care professionals to detect, monitor and treat AMD three years before it can be seen clinically. MacuLogix provides in-practice training and treatment best practices to support the implementation and optimization of the AdaptDx.
References
1. Neely DC, Bray KJ, Huisingh CE, Clark ME, McGwin G, Owsley C. Prevalence of Undiagnosed Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Primary Eye Care. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135(6):570-575.
2. Cervantes-Castañeda RA, et al. Eye (Lond). 2008;22(6):777-781.
3. Olsen TW, et al. Ophthalmology. 2004;111(2):250-255.
