OPTTX system offers hope to some wet AMD sufferers

The OPTTX System (Novadaq Technologies) stabilizes or improves vision at one year in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), many of who have failed previous therapies and have no other treatment alternatives, according to Professor Giovanni Staurenghi of Sacco Hospital, University of Milan, Italy, reporting at this year's EURETINA congress in Vienna, Austria.

The OPTTX system has been designed to enable precise identification of wet AMD and delivery of a stand alone treatment, known as Choroidal Vessel Closure (CVC) in real-time, within a single patient visit.

Of the 23 patients that were evaluable at 12 months, visual acuity (VA) remained stable or improved in 83% (19 patients); 61% had no change or showed a one to six line improvement. Five patients lost up to three lines and four lost more than three lines in VA.

According to Professor Staurenghi, the OPTTX System offers safe and reproducible results in wet AMD patients and it can be used either as an alternative or in combination with anti-VEGF therapy.