BMJ Open
May 2024
Objectives: This report, based on guidance from a panel of UK retina specialists, introduces a revised intravitreal aflibercept (IVT-AFL) treat-and-extend (T&E) pathway for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). The T&E pathway incorporates the updated IVT-AFL label (April 2021) allowing flexible treatment intervals of 4 weeks to 16 weeks, after three initiation doses and a further dose after 8 weeks. Practical guidance is provided on the clinical implementation of the revised pathway, with the aim of supporting clinical decision-making to benefit patients and addressing capacity issues in nAMD services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent years have witnessed an upsurge of demand in eye care services in the UK. With a large proportion of patients referred to Hospital Eye Services (HES) for diagnostics and disease management, the referral process results in unnecessary referrals from erroneous diagnoses and delays in access to appropriate treatment. A potential solution is a teleophthalmology digital referral pathway linking community optometry and HES.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBirdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) is a rare form of chronic, bilateral, posterior uveitis with a distinctive clinical phenotype, and a strong association with HLA-A29. It predominantly affects people in middle age. Given its rarity, patients often encounter delays in diagnosis leading to delays in adequate treatment, and thus risking significant visual loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate the outcomes of refractive surgery in patients with topographic superior corneal steepening.
Methods: This retrospective, noncomparative, interventional, clinical study included 16 patients (29 eyes) with persistent superior corneal steepening as a variation of corneal curvature (inferior to superior topographic corneal difference of at least 1.00 diopter [D] at a 3-mm zone) not related to any underlying disease or condition who underwent corneal refractive surgery.