Purpose: To report the practicability and efficacy of autologous iris pigment epithelium (IPE) translocation in exudative age-related macular degeneration (A RMD) over 1 year. Methods: The consecutive interventional case series included 5 6 patients with exudative ARMD. During vitrectomy the submacular neovascular mem brane (CNV) was removed and IPE cells, harvested from a peripheral iridectomy, w ere injected into the submacular space. Included were patients with subfoveal oc cult CNV (11 eyes), classic CNV (10 eyes), mixed CNV (17 eyes), CNV with a pigme nt epithelial detachment (13 eyes) or CNV with a hemorrhage (5 eyes). Outcome me asures were visual acuity, foveal fixation, size of CNV and rate of recurrence b ased on fluorescence angiographic imaging. Results: All patients underwent succe ssful surgical removal of the CNV with consecutive subretinal IPE injection. Vis ual acuity was better than 20/100 in 19 patients preoperatively and in 18 patien ts postoperatively. A visual acuity of 20/100 or less was found in 37 patients p reoperatively and in 38 patients postoperatively. Mean preoperative visual acuit y (1.0±0.3 logMAR units) did not change significantly after 1 year (1.0±0.3 lo gMAR units). Ten eyes (18%) developed a recurrence. Fixation within the surgica lly denuded area could be demonstrated in 25 eyes (45%). Conclusions: Autologou s IPE translocation for ARMD over one year can preserve foveal function on a low level, but cannot improve visual acuity. IPE translocation is technically feasi ble with a low rate of complications. Continued research seems justified to impr ove functional outcome.
展开▼
