"Age-related Macular Degeneration with Gradual Vision Loss, Early Diagnosis is Crucial"

Bundang Seoul National University Hospital Ophthalmology Professor Woo Se-jun's Research Team
10-Year Follow-Up of Patients with Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Confirmed 'Intractable Disease' with Vision Loss Despite Treatment

Professor Woo Se-jun, Department of Ophthalmology, Bundang Seoul National University Hospital.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A research team led by Professor Woo Se-jun of the Department of Ophthalmology at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital (co-researchers Professors Park Gyu-hyung, Park Sang-jun, Joo Kwang-sik, and co-corresponding author Professor Lee Joo-yong of the Department of Ophthalmology at Seoul Asan Medical Center) announced on the 8th that their study confirmed that the risk of vision loss in patients with wet macular degeneration remains high even after treatment.

Macular degeneration mostly occurs in the macula, the central part of the retina inside the eye, as people age. It is classified into dry and wet types, and if dry macular degeneration is left untreated, it can worsen into the wet type, which critically affects central vision.

Wet macular degeneration is a disease in which abnormal and fragile new blood vessels under the retina rupture, causing bleeding and various substances that damage photoreceptor cells, leading to decreased vision. The progression is very rapid, and missing the treatment window is known to pose a high risk of blindness.

There have been several reports comparing visual prognosis according to various treatment methods for wet macular degeneration. However, studies that have observed and analyzed vision changes over a long period after treatment have been relatively insufficient, making it difficult to clarify long-term patterns of change.

The research team conducted a study to elucidate long-term vision changes after treatment for wet macular degeneration. They observed the vision before and after treatment of 877 patients with wet macular degeneration treated at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul Asan Medical Center and analyzed the visual prognosis over 10 years.

As a result, it was found that wet macular degeneration is a refractory disease in which vision gradually deteriorates over the long term even after treatment, increasing the risk of blindness. Vision in patients with wet macular degeneration continuously declined over 10 years, decreasing by an average of 4 lines (20 letters) on the ETDRS visual acuity chart, and more than 50% of patients reached a blind state with vision below 0.1.

Furthermore, since the introduction of anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) injection therapy in 2007, the degree of vision loss in patients who received injection treatment was noticeably improved compared to those who did not receive such treatment before its introduction, confirming that there is a significant difference in long-term visual prognosis.

This means that early detection of wet macular degeneration and active treatment with anti-VEGF injections lowers the risk of blindness and increases the likelihood of vision improvement.

Professor Woo said, “This study is meaningful in that it revealed the characteristics of wet macular degeneration in Koreans based on long-term vision data observed in clinical settings in Korea,” and added, “If various follow-up studies are conducted based on this research, there will be significant progress in determining the best treatment direction and developing therapies for wet macular degeneration.”

This paper was published in the April issue of ‘Acta Ophthalmologica,’ the academic journal of the European Society of Ophthalmology.