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Photodynamic Therapy Approved for the Wet -Type of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)


The FDA approved Visudyne Therapy for certain types of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) on April 12, 2000. This is the first FDA-approved medication for this devastating eye disease that has become the leading cause of legal blindness in North America and Europe. AMD is a degeneration in the part of the eye that is analogous to the film in a camera, called the retina and specifically in the area of the retina that is responsible for central vision called the macula, hence the name "Macular Degeneration."

Macular degeneration is divided into two types: The dry type and the wet type. Most people lose vision as a result of the wet type of macular degeneration. It is called "wet" because abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina. These blood vessels leak fluid and blood, which cause the retina or macula to degenerate. The only other proven treatment for AMD is standard laser photocoagulation. This treatment, although effective at eliminating the abnormal blood vessels, also damages the normal structures of the retina in the overlying and immediate surrounding areas.

Visudyne therapy involves an IV infusion of a special dye that is taken up preferentially in these abnormal blood vessels under the retina. A low-level laser light is shone at these blood vessels 15 minutes after the infusion has begun. The light activates the dye, causing it to block the abnormal blood vessels, but does not damage the adjacent retina. In a large clinical trial, Visudyne therapy was shown to be 34% more effective than placebo (no treatment) in maintaining a patient's current vision and in some cases resulted in improved vision. The drug was also found to be very safe, with about a one-in-a-hundred (1%) chance of having a serious problem, related to the treatment. It often takes more than one treatment to stop the leakage from these vessels. Visudyne treatments may be repeated at 3-month intervals.

David A. Saperstein, M.D., has been a primary investigator studying the efficacy of this drug in FDA Phase III trials and expanded-use trials for the last 3 years, and performed over 130 treatments prior to the approval of Visudyne Photodynamic Therapy. Fortunately, Dr. Saperstein has recently relocated to the University of Washington in Seattle, and complements the expertise in retinal disease already present at the Eye Center.

If you are interested in speaking with Dr. Saperstein, please telephone the University of Washington Eye Center at (206) 598-4011 for an appointment.