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Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective

Received: 27 September 2020     Accepted: 16 October 2020     Published: 11 November 2020
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Abstract

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss and blindness across the globe. Aging is one of the main risk factors that can be attributed to development and progress of nAMD. This review article focuses on the various nAMD associated challenges that clinicians face with respect to its diagnosis, treatment and follow up. Challenges associated with diagnosis of nAMD include delayed diagnosis and challenges related to Optical Coherence topography (OCT) imaging. Even though anti-VEGFs are the mainstay of treatment and are effective in maintaining or improving vision, treating nAMD comes with its own set of burdens from the clinician’s perspective. Clinicians are faced with the choice of different types of anti-VEGFs, treatment regimens and the chronic, variable and unpredictable nature of nAMD all of which can have a major impact on treatment outcomes. Monitoring associated with treatment is also a major burden. Newer anti-VEGFs which have a longer, sustained action may help decrease this burden. Other challenges include stressed out clinic capacities, lack of equipment and trained personnel. The aim of this review article is to highlight the challenges attributed to the diagnosis and management of nAMD from a clinician’s perspective, especially important in developing countries like India which face a combination of high disease burden, lack of disease awareness, lack of facilities, equipment and personnel. Together, they can have a disastrous effect, impacting vision of the aging population. There is a dearth of India-specific data on the various challenges of diagnosis and treatment of nAMD. Such data can act as a building block upon which strategic steps can be developed and implemented which in turn may help save the vision of the huge Indian population who are afflicted by nAMD.

Published in International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12
Page(s) 90-100
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Neovascular Age Related Macular Degeneration, nAMD, Anti-VEGFs, Treatment Burden, Unmet Need, Management, India

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Nishikant Borse, Rahul Surti, Nitin Maksane, Maulik Bhavsar, Manan Thaker. (2020). Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective. International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 5(4), 90-100. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12

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    ACS Style

    Nishikant Borse; Rahul Surti; Nitin Maksane; Maulik Bhavsar; Manan Thaker. Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective. Int. J. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2020, 5(4), 90-100. doi: 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12

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    AMA Style

    Nishikant Borse, Rahul Surti, Nitin Maksane, Maulik Bhavsar, Manan Thaker. Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective. Int J Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020;5(4):90-100. doi: 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12,
      author = {Nishikant Borse and Rahul Surti and Nitin Maksane and Maulik Bhavsar and Manan Thaker},
      title = {Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective},
      journal = {International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {90-100},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijovs.20200504.12},
      abstract = {Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss and blindness across the globe. Aging is one of the main risk factors that can be attributed to development and progress of nAMD. This review article focuses on the various nAMD associated challenges that clinicians face with respect to its diagnosis, treatment and follow up. Challenges associated with diagnosis of nAMD include delayed diagnosis and challenges related to Optical Coherence topography (OCT) imaging. Even though anti-VEGFs are the mainstay of treatment and are effective in maintaining or improving vision, treating nAMD comes with its own set of burdens from the clinician’s perspective. Clinicians are faced with the choice of different types of anti-VEGFs, treatment regimens and the chronic, variable and unpredictable nature of nAMD all of which can have a major impact on treatment outcomes. Monitoring associated with treatment is also a major burden. Newer anti-VEGFs which have a longer, sustained action may help decrease this burden. Other challenges include stressed out clinic capacities, lack of equipment and trained personnel. The aim of this review article is to highlight the challenges attributed to the diagnosis and management of nAMD from a clinician’s perspective, especially important in developing countries like India which face a combination of high disease burden, lack of disease awareness, lack of facilities, equipment and personnel. Together, they can have a disastrous effect, impacting vision of the aging population. There is a dearth of India-specific data on the various challenges of diagnosis and treatment of nAMD. Such data can act as a building block upon which strategic steps can be developed and implemented which in turn may help save the vision of the huge Indian population who are afflicted by nAMD.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Unmet Needs in the Management of Neovascular Age- Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Clinician’s Perspective
    AU  - Nishikant Borse
    AU  - Rahul Surti
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    JF  - International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-3858
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200504.12
    AB  - Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss and blindness across the globe. Aging is one of the main risk factors that can be attributed to development and progress of nAMD. This review article focuses on the various nAMD associated challenges that clinicians face with respect to its diagnosis, treatment and follow up. Challenges associated with diagnosis of nAMD include delayed diagnosis and challenges related to Optical Coherence topography (OCT) imaging. Even though anti-VEGFs are the mainstay of treatment and are effective in maintaining or improving vision, treating nAMD comes with its own set of burdens from the clinician’s perspective. Clinicians are faced with the choice of different types of anti-VEGFs, treatment regimens and the chronic, variable and unpredictable nature of nAMD all of which can have a major impact on treatment outcomes. Monitoring associated with treatment is also a major burden. Newer anti-VEGFs which have a longer, sustained action may help decrease this burden. Other challenges include stressed out clinic capacities, lack of equipment and trained personnel. The aim of this review article is to highlight the challenges attributed to the diagnosis and management of nAMD from a clinician’s perspective, especially important in developing countries like India which face a combination of high disease burden, lack of disease awareness, lack of facilities, equipment and personnel. Together, they can have a disastrous effect, impacting vision of the aging population. There is a dearth of India-specific data on the various challenges of diagnosis and treatment of nAMD. Such data can act as a building block upon which strategic steps can be developed and implemented which in turn may help save the vision of the huge Indian population who are afflicted by nAMD.
    VL  - 5
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Author Information
  • Insight Eye Clinic, Mumbai, India

  • Krishna Eye Centre, Mumbai, India

  • Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India

  • Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India

  • Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India

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