New Therapies for ARMD 1 Thursday 17 May 14:30 - 16:00 Salle Camille Blanc
G. Ravalico, E. Balestrazzi, A. Fantin, R. Fasciani, P. Iorio,
ITALY
First results of functional rehabilitation in patients with macular degeneration treated by phacoexeresis and IOL-VIP (Intra Ocular Lens - Visually Impaired People) system implantation
Purpose: To evaluate functional rehabilitation in patients with macular degeneration who underwent phacoexeresis with implantation of a IOL-VIP system, after a period of visual rehabilitation. Setting: University Eye Clinic, Trieste; Institute of Ophthalmology, Catholic University, Rome. Methods: IOL-VIP system is an intraocular Galileian telescope. It consists of two IOLs, one higly negative placed in the bag and one highly positive placed in the anterior chamber, providing a magnification of 1.3x and a prismatic effect of 10 diopters to shift the enlarged images towards the Preferred Retinal Locus (PRL). 19 eyes of 17 patients, aged 49-83 years, with macular degeneration were treated. 14 patients had age related macular degeneration, 2 Stargardt desease, 1 myopic maculopathy. All patients underwent a preop and a postop rehabilitation program with a rehebilitative software to train the PRL. All patients were treated as outpatients, with a classic phacosurgery and IOLs implantation, with a basal iridectomy. Two patients were implanted bilaterally. Results: The follow-up varied from 6 to 12 months. Mean pre-op visual acuity (VA) was 20/100 , while mean post-op VA was 20/40. 3 patients had a pre-op VA <20/200 and a mean post-op VA of 20/160. In all patients pre-op VA was redoubled as predicted by the external simulator test. An improving in contrast sensitivity and fixing capabilty was observed as well. Conclusions: First results of visual rehabilitation in patients with macular degeneration treated with phacoexeresis and IOL-VIP implantation demonstrate an improved VA. All patients reported a major distance for handworks, a higher comfort and a better quality of life.
