AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) is currently the most common eye retinal disease and the most common cause of vision loss in people over 50, which until recently could not be cured in its early stages. However, there is a new therapy in the treatment of early stage AMD - the Retinal Rejuvenation Therapy (2RT) laser - which allows not only to stop but also to reverse lesions.
AMD - Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is now the most common eye retinal disease and the most common cause of blindness in people with 50 years of age, which until recently could not be cured in its early stages. In Poland, over 1 million people suffer from AMD, while around the world about 70 million. About 90 percent. cases are the so-called dry - a form of AMD that develops gradually and slowly destroys vision, characterized by the occurrence of the so-called drusen (deposits of metabolic products of the retina) and atrophic changes in the retina. Over time, the chronic form (dry AMD) leads to the development of a wet form (wet AMD), rapidly and irreversibly destroying the photosensitive cells of the retina, resulting in practical blindness.
New therapy for the treatment of early stage AMD (macular degeneration)
According to experts, the presence of drusen under the retina is considered a classic marker of early AMD. Until recently, the only treatment method in this phase of the disease was dietary supplementation, and attempts to use lasers conventionally used in laser therapy of retinal diseases did not bring satisfactory results, mainly due to the effects associated with thermal damage to the retinal cells.
Thanks to the 2RT laser, it is possible to reverse the process that causes AMD by reducing the drusen in the retina of patients with early-stage AMD.
The 2RT (Retinal Rejuvenation Therapy) laser turned out to be a breakthrough in the treatment of early AMD, which uses the effect of a precisely controlled, nano-second laser pulse on the retina of the eye.
[…] It is a revolutionary solution that uses a mechanismthe natural immune response of cells. The laser pulse reaches the selected cells, causing them to die, but without damaging the neighboring cells. In the cells of the retina, the natural biological process of self-reconstruction and regeneration of these cells is provoked. New cells undergo an adaptation process that releases growth factors and restores fluid transport in Bruch's membrane. As a result, the epithelial layer is renewed without harming the photoreceptors and the choroid. - emphasizes prof. dr hab. n. med. Krystyna Czechowicz-Janicka from the Eye Institute in Warsaw.
- Treatment of early-stage AMD with the 2RT laser will allow not only to stop, but above all to reverse, lesions at a very early stage of the disease, before the damage to the retina becomes irreversible. This is a huge breakthrough in ophthalmology and a chance of recovery for thousands of patients with early-stage AMD. Therapy of the so-called intravitreal injections used in the late stage of AMD, although it inhibits the disease process, does not reverse the effects of damage to the retina. - adds prof. Janicka.
The Eye Institute is the only ophthalmic center in Poland that has and uses Retinal Rejuvenation Therapy (2RT). To further improve this revolutionary technique, it collaborates with all major ophthalmic centers in Europe and the world that already use 2RT as part of a global scientific program.