Advanced New Therapeutics And Diagnostics In Retinal Diseases And Glaucoma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,550,944.00
Summary
This program proposal targets the most common blinding diseases in clinical ophthalmology. The applicant team includes research and clinical ophthalmologists and basic scientists. The team have an internationally established reputation in bringing basic science discoveries to the point where they can impact directly on clinical diagnosis and therapy. The proposed research includes new treatment therapies for diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, and retinal vascular diseases. A ....This program proposal targets the most common blinding diseases in clinical ophthalmology. The applicant team includes research and clinical ophthalmologists and basic scientists. The team have an internationally established reputation in bringing basic science discoveries to the point where they can impact directly on clinical diagnosis and therapy. The proposed research includes new treatment therapies for diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, and retinal vascular diseases. A new diagnostic technique for glaucoma and new instrumentation for detecting areas of poor blood flow and oxygen supply in the eye are also to be developed. Past successes in our current program grant make us confident that we can produce clinically useful outcomes from this new proposal.Read moreRead less
OCULAR PERFUSION PRESSURE: A MODIFIABLE RISK FACTOR FOR GLAUCOMA?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$327,560.00
Summary
This project aims to study the mechanisms underlying glaucoma, the second leading cause of vision loss. Specifically it will provide proof for the idea that a person can develop vision loss without having high eye pressure, if their blood pressure cannot provide enough supply to the eye. It will achieve this by combining expertise from several disciplines; physiology, blood pressure control, anatomy and biochemistry. This project will help to improve glaucoma detection, monitoring and treatment.
The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the role that increased eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP) plays in the development of glaucoma-related nerve death and associated vision loss. Despite being the second leading cause of vision loss in Australia, our understanding of the factors that damage nerves in the eye (the ganglion cells that carry visual information to the brain) in glaucoma remains incomplete. For example, elevated eye pressure is a well-established risk ....The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the role that increased eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP) plays in the development of glaucoma-related nerve death and associated vision loss. Despite being the second leading cause of vision loss in Australia, our understanding of the factors that damage nerves in the eye (the ganglion cells that carry visual information to the brain) in glaucoma remains incomplete. For example, elevated eye pressure is a well-established risk factor for glaucoma, but as many as half of those with glaucoma do not have high eye pressure. Clinical data suggests that pressure fluctuations (or spikes), which go unnoticed in routine clinical check ups, may be involved in glaucoma onset and progression. To date there has been no direct evidence to support this contention. This project aims to use a novel experimental model of pressure elevation in rodents to consider this possibility. By measuring the eye's electrical response to a flash of light it is possible to sensitively assess how pressure spikes, that are known to occur with regularity in humans, might affect the health of retinal ganglion cells. Anatomical measures will also be used to establish the sequence of events that cause cellular damage. This knowledge is an important public health issue, because it will improve understanding of the risk factors for the development of glaucoma. The results may lead to improvements in detection and treatment strategies such as closer monitoring for pressure spikes and more aggressive treatment for those who show greater variability in their eye pressures.Read moreRead less
New Dynamometric Techniques For Predicting Glaucoma Progression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$171,825.00
Summary
Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. The biggest risk factor for glaucoma is raised intraocular pressure. However, the exact cause of the disease remains unknown. Through our basic science studies in animals we have discovered that changes in blood flow in the vessels at the optic disk may be involved in the disease process. In recent clinical trials we discovered that the presence or absence of pulsations in the retinal veins at the disk was both an indicator of severity and ....Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. The biggest risk factor for glaucoma is raised intraocular pressure. However, the exact cause of the disease remains unknown. Through our basic science studies in animals we have discovered that changes in blood flow in the vessels at the optic disk may be involved in the disease process. In recent clinical trials we discovered that the presence or absence of pulsations in the retinal veins at the disk was both an indicator of severity and progression of glaucoma. This is a major breakthrough because there is no other means of predicting in which glaucoma patients vision loss will develop most rapidly. This information will be very helpful in deciding which patients should have the most agressive treatment to restore normal intraocular pressure. This project seeks to develop a new commercial device to make such an examination easy for any clinical ophthalmologist. The device allows the doctor to examine the vessels at the disk whilst applying slight pressure to the eye to temporarily raise intraocular pressure. A footswitch is pressed when the doctor sees the vessels pulsate. The required force is recorded by a laptop computer and the data stored along with the patients details. Now we have confirmed the ability of such a measurement to predict the rate of visual field loss in glaucoma, such a measurement will become much more widespread in clinical ophthalmology, offering a new and large scale opportunity for such instrumentation. Our device will be easy to operate, more comfortable for the patient, and will be of major diagnostic value in glaucoma clinics worldwide.Read moreRead less