TeachableMedicalNews article 06152022
Teachable moment in classrooms:
- cellular basis of life chapter – diffusion as a means of molecular movement
- special senses chapter – the photoreceptors rods and cones are in the retina
- special senses chapter – liquid-filled chambers of the eye
- special senses chapter – sclera, the white of the eye, is the toughest, outer layer
Can we put an implant inside the eye to deliver drugs to treat eye diseases?
The news item: Recently a report appeared about a drug, Susvimo, that reverses blindness:
New technology helps Georgetown veteran restore his eyesight
If you’re living with blurry vision, there’s a chance a new device can help you get your eyesight back without frequent visits to the doctor. The newly FDA-approved Susvimo implant helped one Georgetown veteran preserve his vision after being diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration.
The article states that AMD (wet, age-related macular degeneration) is the leading cause of blindness over the age 60, that this disorder is caused by growth and scarring of blood vessels under the retina, and that drug-delivery through an implant has restored vision in 90% of the treated individuals.
So, Why Do I Care?? Eye diseases can rob people of their vision. Many of such diseases are treated by injection of a drug into the eye. It is estimated that there are over 10 million such injections per year in the USA. Because chronic eye disorders require several injections into the same eye, it is worth exploring alternative delivery systems for long-term administration of drugs.
Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s review the action of Susvimo, the drug we will use as an example to learn about implants inside the eye. In a previous post of Teachable Medical News (TMN 05252022), we described the action of the drug Susvimo. Here is a brief summary: Normally the light-sensing cell in the