“There maculopathy it is becoming a social problem, it is the major cause of visual impairment in post-senile age. At Gemelli we are experimenting with a very small reservoir, which surgically inserted into the wall of the eye and loaded with a drug that counteracts maculopathy, releases small doses. A technique that allows the treatment to be extended every six months because the tank can be filled with a micro-needle by the ophthalmologist. In the US it has been approved by the FDA, while we, together with other centers, are in Phase 3 of the experimentation. “This was underlined by Adnkronos Salute Stanislao Rizzoprofessor of Ophthalmology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome and director of the Ophthalmology Unit of the Gemelli Irccs Polyclinic Foundation,
“With aging, problems on the retina increase – recalls Rizzo – It is the noblest and most sophisticated tissue in our body that transforms the images we capture into an electrical impulse that goes from the optic nerve to the brain. In over 65s, maculopathy is growing , when it is the dry form the tissue is consumed and we cannot regenerate it. The wet form of maculopathy is characterized by the fact that fluid and blood are lost, on this form we have the intravitreal injections on which we have made some steps forward, because today we have moved on to treatments that last longer over time “.
Rizzo, however, remembers that 90% of maculopathies are of the dry form, “the retina has 8 layers and transplantation is a difficult path, but there are some paths that research is taking: the first is a drug that acts against inflammation , in the US a study has shown that it can be promising “. The second way is “stem cells” and “in the US, a Niaid government study, aims to inject stem cells under the retina. Then there are gene therapies, or injecting a modified virus into the patient’s eye that carries the gene, this can make the cells produce the substances they should have. Finally, the fourth way is the artificial retina “which was implanted at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome” on a 70-year-old blind patient due to an inherited retinal disease “. Then there is the artificial intelligence that can “help in the diagnosis, today we have the tools and algorithms that tell us with great certainty with the fundus examination whether we are dealing with a wet or dry form of maculopathy”, he concludes. Rizzo.
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