What does the future hold for AMD management?

The panel also discussed lifestyle issues and ways to help patients prevent ocular disease as well the ramifications of cataract surgery for patients with retinal disease. The panel included:

Moderator:

Retina specialists cover current practice patterns, delve into potential vision-saving treatments

Peter K. Kaiser, MD: I agree. The gold standard is still FA, especially in determining the location, size, and type of the CNV. I also use OCT to help evaluate for treatment at follow-up examinations. It may be possible, especially with the anti-angiogenic drugs that we hope will be available soon, to diagnose the CNV with FA, but then follow patients only with OCT because it tracks morphologic retinal changes very precisely. The problem with using only OCT scans at follow-up is registration. Did the photographer scan the same CNV location at each visit? It is important to evaluate the fundus video image to ensure correct location of the scan in relation to the previous scans-only then can one be sure if the patient's condition is improving or not.

Steven D. Schwartz, MD: We base our diagnosis on the clinical exam and supplement physical findings with FA, OCT, and ICG angiography if pigment epithelium detachment or large hemorrhage is present.