Managing Retinal Disorders: Lessons Learned From COVID-19

EP: 1.Common Types of Retinal Disorders Explored

EP: 2.Evaluating Patients for a Retinal Disorder

EP: 3.Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Treatment Overview

EP: 4.Diabetic Macular Edema: Treatment Overview

EP: 5.Inherited Retinal Disease: Treatment Overview

EP: 6.Anti-VEGF Therapy for Retinal Disease

EP: 7.Drug Delivery Challenges in Retinal Disease

EP: 8.Addressing Drug Delivery Gaps in Retinal Disease

EP: 9.Drug Delivery Methods Explored for Retinal Disease

EP: 10.Recent Treatment Advances in Retinal Disease

EP: 11.Therapies in the Pipeline for Retinal Disorders

EP: 12.Delivery Systems in the Pipeline for Retinal Disorders

EP: 13.Sustained-Release Drug Delivery for Retinal Disorders

EP: 14.Future Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Disease

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EP: 15.Managing Retinal Disorders: Lessons Learned From COVID-19

EP: 16.Optimizing Care For Patients With Retinal Disorders

Albert J. Augustin, MD: As a concluding remark: We have all been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and our retinal practices have changed dramatically. What will last from this experience and from the changes in our practices?

Mariya Moosajee, MBBS, BSc, PhD, FRCOphth: My cohort of patients were deemed nonurgent in the pandemic. So a lot of the practitioners were told to cancel appointments to allow for capacity for AMD [age-related macular degeneration] and the serious diabetic patients. However, I quickly converted to virtual consultations. Especially in genetics, what we call teleogenetics, is extremely accessible through virtual platforms. Virtual consultations are something that we will continue to do going forward. From an inherited eye disease point of view, we can limit the amount of follow-ups that we give patients and maybe try to reduce that referral to a specialist center, but have joint care with local district general hospitals so patients aren’t traveling so much. Maybe we can introduce home monitoring and use digital technologies moving forward. We can also instigate more diagnostic hubs in local areas, where patients can get their autofluorescence and OCT [optical coherence tomography], then we, as clinicians, can remotely monitor those patients following up with more virtual consultations.

Albert J. Augustin, MD: Thank you.

Transcript edited for clarity.