More Homework for Patients With Macular Degeneration?

The study conducted by Hogg et al. aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of three different home monitoring tests for detecting active neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in patients who have received at least 6 months of treatment in one eye. The study involved a multicenter trial conducted in the UK, with 261 patients enrolled. The patients were treated based on in-office examinations by their ophthalmologists, and the treating ophthalmologists were masked to the results of the patients' home monitoring systems. The overall findings of the study were disappointing, as none of the home monitoring tests adequately detected nAMD activity. The authors suggested that visual function testing may not be the appropriate modality for monitoring anatomic changes in the macula in nAMD. The study highlighted the need for an ideal home monitoring system that would allow patients to monitor their disease status from home and seek treatment when necessary. The authors suggested that incorporating new technologies, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), into future study protocols may provide more accurate results.