New test to predict AMD

Soon, a doctor could find out whether you are likely to have macular degeneration even before you have any inkling of the eye disease.

Scientists have developed a new test to identify people who are genetically predisposed to AMD, opening the way to earlier detection and treatment.

The test is called Macular Risk and has been developed by ArcticDX, a Canadian company, and Cambridge Enterprise, the commercial arm of Cambridge University. It will be available worldwide next year.

During the test, swabs of saliva will be analysed to look for genes which indicate that a patient has a high probability of developing the disease.

ArcticDX president Greg Hines said: "This will be the first time that clinicians will be able to diagnose the condition before symptoms arise.This provides the opportunity for targeted patient education and routine eye examinations that offer early detection and disease management.

"Macular Degeneration is a disease that can be arrested but it is not reversible. It is important to offer earlier treatment regimens that may arrest the disease before significant vision loss occurs."

ArcticDX has secured license for a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the complement C3 gene that has been shown to be a predictive indicator for the genetic diagnosis of AMD.

This breakthrough came after six years of research. The manufacturers said that the ideal candidate for the test would be someone in their 50s with a family history of the condition.

New Exco for MDS

MDS held its first Annual General Meeting today at the Alexandra Hospital, with President Sam Fong presenting a report of the society's activities in the last year.

The society has a membership of more than 150 and events organised ranged from regular sharing sessions to talks by experts, as well as a roadshow and computer tutorial.

MDS has also been a key partner and supporter of the annual nationwide AMD Awareness Week in Singapore.

MDS also elected a new Executive Committee to serve a two-year term from July 2008 to June 2010. Sam Fong, Sharon Siddique, Peh Shing Huei and Anny Leow remained in the Exco, with Lee Soo Mien, Doreen Heng and Lim Hsiu Mei coming onboard. Doris Peh and Evelyn Chew have also been chosen as honorary auditors for the new term.

Below (from left): Shing Huei, Anny, Doris, Doreen, Sharon, Sam, Soo Mien. Hsiu Mei and Evelyn are not in the picture.


Former Exco member Steven Lo declined to stand for re-election and the MDS would like to express its sincere gratitude to him for his time and service. In particular, the computer tutorials he conducted both at his home and at the SNEC last month have been well-received and most helpful.

The new Exco will choose its office bearers of president, secretary and treasurer after their first meeting. Details will be posted here.

Revolutionary Microscopic Needles

Researchers in Georgia, United States have pioneered a new technique that effectively delivers drugs to the eyes using microscopic needles. It could be a big boost for macular degeneration patients.

These new needles penetrate the eye only as deep as half a millimetre into the eye tissue. This means that they do not penetrate far enough to cause as much damage as traditional needles. As a result, they can be applied to the eye using only local anaesthetic.

Traditional delivery methods such as eye drops have difficulty in efficiently delivering drugs to the back of the eye, and ordinary injections are invasive as the needle penetrates across eye tissues. Repeated injections with regular needles can also result in other serious complications to vision.

To read more, click here.

Painting macular degeneration

One of the biggest problems that macular degeneration sufferers confronts is trying to explain to the people around them just what they are suffering from. While simple blindness is easily understood, the degenerative nature and partial blindness of MD makes it less clear.

What does it mean to lose central vision and only have peripheral view? How does the world look like through the eyes of an MD sufferer?

To help answer these questions, a young artist in Scotland has painted portraits of macular degeneration patients, to show how MD sufferers see the themselves.

Mr Adam Hahn (below), whose late grandmother suffered from AMD, photographed each sitter and manipulated the image to represent how they would see it.

He then showed it to them and, by using their remaining peripheral vision, they suggested adjustments.

One of the sitters was Mr Don Curran, the past chairman of the charity AMD Alliance International. He called the portraits (below) "outstanding".

“One of the biggest difficulties we have lies in explaining its (macular degeneration's) impact to others. I spend a lot of time trying to show how difficult it is living with central-vision blindness, and how the condition varies between each individual,” he says.

“I am about to speak at an international congress in Hong Kong and I am going to use some of Adam's portraits on PowerPoint. Even clinicians and pharmaceutical companies don't understand how it can cause such depression. Simple blindness is far easier to comprehend than this kind of partial-sightedness.”

To read more, click here for the very well-written article on The Times of London.