The future of AMD treatment: new clinical pathways

Chicago-New therapeutic treatments and medication for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will alter management for the thousands of patients who have been diagnosed with AMD or who are at risk of developing the disease.

Participants in an evening CME symposium were briefed on the advances in research that have led to new treatments, including anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy, new surgical techniques, laser therapy, the prevention of complications, and various investigational medications.

Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, discussed the anti-VEGF treatment paradigm, while Alan F. Cruess, MD, FRCSC, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, described how to manage the risks of AMD treatment and Craig Greven, MD, Wake Forest University Eye Center, Winston-Salem, NC, focused on the practical aspects of patient management.

Speakers Andrew A. Schachat, MD, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and Robert D. Fechtner, MD, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, addressed the risks and benefits of steroid-based treatment.

The program was jointly sponsored by Ophthalmology Times and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and supported by grants from Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pfizer Ophthalmics. The event was held at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum.