The majority of patients with late-stage, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) monocularly implanted with the SING IMT™ had improved functional vision after participating in a 24-week rehabilitation program focused on real-world tasks such as reading, writing, visual motor integration and mobility, according to a retrospective study published in Ophthalmology and Therapy. This is important because reading performance is one of the best predictors of patient-reported visual ability and vision-related quality of life.
Under investigation in the United States for patients 65 and older, the SING IMT is an intraocular telescope approved for late-stage AMD patients who are 55 years of age or older in CE referenced countries. Its design improves upon a 1st-generation miniature telescope device.
Study Highlights:
- 11 Italian patients (males, n=8; mean age 77.5 ± 8.0 years) monocularly implanted with the SING IMT participated in 7 biweekly rehabilitation sessions focused on reading speed (RS), reading acuity (RA), and fixation stability (FS); participants were assessed at 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, 14-, 16- and 24-week follow-up visits after SING IMT implantation. Best Corrected Distance Visual Acuity (BCDVA) was also assessed.
- RS: Reading speed nearly doubled with mean RS improved from the second program session (16.9 ± 11.4 words per minute) to the last session (30.9 ± 17.6 words per minute) (p = 0.0057 between the first and the second to last session).
- RA: After the first session of the rehabilitation program (6 weeks postoperatively), mean RA was 0.64 ± 0.26 LogMar. After the last session (24 weeks postoperatively), mean RA was 0.45 ± 0.19 LogMAR, a statistically significant improvement from the first to last session. 100 percent of patients achieved their maximal reading acuity value by the final rehabilitation session.
- FS: The majority (55%, n = 6) required only two sessions to achieve 15 s or more of fixation stability, but all reached this by the last rehabilitation session.
- BCDVA was found to be significantly improved between the first and the last rehabilitation sessions (p = 0.0125).
These results are an important follow-up to a study reporting 3-month Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) outcomes following the SING IMT procedure. Notably, that study reports that improvements in device design (compared to the first-generation model) resulted in considerably lower ECD loss while maintaining the visual acuity outcomes achieved with the first-generation IMT™ device implanted in more than 600 patients living with late-stage AMD.