By Margot Kim
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (KFSN) --
It's the leading cause of vision loss for people over 60 -- macular degeneration slowly steals a person's eyesight, making reading, driving and every day living difficult. It's estimated nearly 18 million Americans will have the blinding condition by 2050. Treatment typically involved monthly injections, until now. A new technique could save a person's sight ... along with their time.
Judie Janes' handiwork keeps a long list of friends and family in style. Last year, she thought she made her last stitch.
"I couldn't thread a needle, couldn't see the needle to thread it on my sewing machine," Janes said.
Janes was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration. Abnormal blood vessels growing under her retina were bleeding.
"Vision is not something you can take for granted," Janes said.
Traditionally, doctors inject a drug into the eye that stops the vessels from growing, but it doesn't last.
"It's a big impact on lifestyle for the patients," Peter Sonkin, M.D., a retina specialist at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., told Ivanhoe. "They have to come in once a month, sometimes for a year or two or longer."
In a clinical trial, doctors use a small probe that delivers targeted low-dose radiation to the eye. The goal -- damage abnormal the blood vessels without affecting the healthy parts of the eye.
"The amount of radiation exposure to the body from going through this procedure is less than one would get flying from New York to Los Angeles in a plane," Carl Awh, M.D., also a retina specialist at Baptist Hospital, told Ivanhoe.
Then surgeons inject a dose of the traditional medication. They say the radiation-drug combo is more powerful, lasts longer and could eliminate the need for monthly injections.
"Nothing's blurry," Janes said. "I passed the eye test, and you know you can't fake an eye test."
Janes checks her vision every morning. She went from nearly legally blind -- 20/100 -- to 20/20 after surgery.
"Every morning after I do my little grid test, I look at that prayer and it lets me know how blessed I really am," she said.
A grandma who has too much going on to spend her golden years in the dark.
Patients are sedated for the outpatient surgery which takes about an hour. The technique is in the final stages of approval in Europe and should be available there in August. If the trial is successful in the U.S., the treatment could be available in less than two years.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Healthy Life: Macular Degeneration
By Ashley Hinson
Story Created: Aug 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM CDT
Story Updated: Aug 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM CDT
BACKGROUND: About 13 million Americans show signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition that destroys central vision so things like reading, watching TV and driving are impossible. The condition also robs a person of the ability to see colors and fine detail. Because the U.S. population is expected to age rapidly, cases of AMD are only expected to increase. Middle-aged people have about a 2 percent risk of developing AMD, but this risk increases to almost 30 percent in those over 75 (Source: Emory Healthcare).
There are two types of AMD: wet and dry. Wet AMD occurs abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, the central part of the retina. Those blood vessels then leak blood and fluid that cause the macula to bulge outward. Symptoms of wet AMD often develop quickly and include seeing straight lines as wavy. Dry AMD happens when light-sensitive cells in the macula break down and blur central vision. The most common symptom of dry AMD is slightly blurred vision. The condition develops slowly.
TREATMENT: According the American Health Assistance Foundation, currently there is no treatment or cure for dry macular degeneration. However, taking a specific high-dose formula of vitamins and mineral supplements called the AREDS formula has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of progressing from intermediate to advanced or wet macular degeneration. Treatments for wet macular degeneration include drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors (Lucentis, Macugen); photocoagulation, which involves using a high-energy laser to destroy leaking blood vessels; and photodynamic therapy.
RELEARNING TO SEE: Doctors at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga., are working on a unique form of treatment for AMD that takes advantage of the brain's ability to reorganize itself to make up for vision loss. The therapy involves training AMD patients to focus on using the good cells that remain. "We are encouraging them or influencing them to be able to use those parts of the retina to be able to better utilize the residual vision," Susan Primo, O.D., M.P.H., Director of Low Vision Services at the Emory Eye Center, told Ivanhoe.
In the treatment, doctors first use a computer to map out the areas of the eye that are damaged. The machine then locates the areas that are still sensitive based on factors like thickness of the retina. The computer then uses biofeedback -- in this case a series of beeps that gets faster and louder as the patient moves closer to using the healthiest portion of the eye -- to train the patient to move their eye into the position that gives them the best possible vision.
For more information contact www.maculardegnerationassociation.org
Story Created: Aug 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM CDT
Story Updated: Aug 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM CDT
BACKGROUND: About 13 million Americans show signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition that destroys central vision so things like reading, watching TV and driving are impossible. The condition also robs a person of the ability to see colors and fine detail. Because the U.S. population is expected to age rapidly, cases of AMD are only expected to increase. Middle-aged people have about a 2 percent risk of developing AMD, but this risk increases to almost 30 percent in those over 75 (Source: Emory Healthcare).
There are two types of AMD: wet and dry. Wet AMD occurs abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, the central part of the retina. Those blood vessels then leak blood and fluid that cause the macula to bulge outward. Symptoms of wet AMD often develop quickly and include seeing straight lines as wavy. Dry AMD happens when light-sensitive cells in the macula break down and blur central vision. The most common symptom of dry AMD is slightly blurred vision. The condition develops slowly.
TREATMENT: According the American Health Assistance Foundation, currently there is no treatment or cure for dry macular degeneration. However, taking a specific high-dose formula of vitamins and mineral supplements called the AREDS formula has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of progressing from intermediate to advanced or wet macular degeneration. Treatments for wet macular degeneration include drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors (Lucentis, Macugen); photocoagulation, which involves using a high-energy laser to destroy leaking blood vessels; and photodynamic therapy.
RELEARNING TO SEE: Doctors at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga., are working on a unique form of treatment for AMD that takes advantage of the brain's ability to reorganize itself to make up for vision loss. The therapy involves training AMD patients to focus on using the good cells that remain. "We are encouraging them or influencing them to be able to use those parts of the retina to be able to better utilize the residual vision," Susan Primo, O.D., M.P.H., Director of Low Vision Services at the Emory Eye Center, told Ivanhoe.
In the treatment, doctors first use a computer to map out the areas of the eye that are damaged. The machine then locates the areas that are still sensitive based on factors like thickness of the retina. The computer then uses biofeedback -- in this case a series of beeps that gets faster and louder as the patient moves closer to using the healthiest portion of the eye -- to train the patient to move their eye into the position that gives them the best possible vision.
For more information contact www.maculardegnerationassociation.org
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Nearly 18 Million Will Have Macular Degeneration by 2050
Nearly 18 Million Will Have Macular Degeneration by 2050
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Although the rate of age-related macular degeneration is on the increase, newer treatments could help reduce the most serious effects of the disease by about 35%, new estimates suggest.
Latest Eyesight News
In a study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers report that as many as 9.1 million people will have age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2010, but that 17.8 million people will have the potentially blinding eye disease by 2050.
"What we found is that due to aging, the number of cases of early and advanced AMD will increase dramatically no matter what," said study author David Rein, a senior research economist from RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "In 2050, we project there will be 1.57 million cases of blindness [caused by AMD] with no treatment. But, with vigorous treatment, that number's just about 1 million."
Results of the study are published in the April issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Age-related macular degeneration is a serious eye disease that causes the breakdown of the macula, which is located in the retina. The macula gives you clear central vision, which is essential for reading and driving, even for just seeing people's faces. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in people over 65, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmologists (AAO).
Risk factors for AMD include advancing age, a family history of the disease, high blood pressure, smoking and obesity, according to the AAO. Though there are treatments that help some people, there is no cure for AMD.
Most of the treatments for AMD are relatively new, only widely available since about 2001, according to Rein. The easiest and cheapest intervention is a special vitamin/mineral combination (vitamins C, E, beta carotene, zinc and copper) that may slow the progression of AMD. This treatment only costs about $100 per year, and when used early in the disease can "reduce vision-threatening disease by 25%," Rein noted.
Other possible treatments include anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF), which slows the growth of leaking blood vessels in the eyes, laser therapy or photodynamic therapy (PDT), which combines the use of medication and laser therapy to reduce blood vessel leakage in the eyes.
Using a statistical model, the researchers estimated that the rate of visual impairment would drop by 2.4% if everyone with AMD were treated with PDT alone, but by 22% if PDT was combined with vitamin treatments. If, in the future, everyone were treated with laser therapy and anti-VEGF, visual impairment and blindness from AMD would decrease by 16.9%, and the final scenario -- early vitamin treatment and laser therapy -- would reduce serious visual problems in AMD by 34.5%.
"Age-related macular degeneration is a major public health problem, and as people are living longer, more people are going to develop some form of macular degeneration," said Dr. Alexander Aizman, a clinical instructor in the department of ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "The scenarios in this study are very plausible."
Aizman said that although there's currently no specific preventive treatment to avoid AMD altogether, the same things that keep your heart and the rest of your body healthy -- maintaining the proper weight, exercising, not smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke -- can also help keep your eyes healthy.
"If you have a relative who has been diagnosed with AMD, it's important to know that you're probably at a higher risk of AMD than the general population," said Aizman. "If you're 60 or older, have regular eye checkups with an ophthalmologist or a retinal specialist to find out if you have any early changes that suggest AMD."
SOURCES: David Rein, Ph.D., senior research economist, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; Alexander Aizman, M.D., clinical instructor, department of ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; April 2009, Archives of Ophthalmology
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Although the rate of age-related macular degeneration is on the increase, newer treatments could help reduce the most serious effects of the disease by about 35%, new estimates suggest.
Latest Eyesight News
In a study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers report that as many as 9.1 million people will have age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2010, but that 17.8 million people will have the potentially blinding eye disease by 2050.
"What we found is that due to aging, the number of cases of early and advanced AMD will increase dramatically no matter what," said study author David Rein, a senior research economist from RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "In 2050, we project there will be 1.57 million cases of blindness [caused by AMD] with no treatment. But, with vigorous treatment, that number's just about 1 million."
Results of the study are published in the April issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Age-related macular degeneration is a serious eye disease that causes the breakdown of the macula, which is located in the retina. The macula gives you clear central vision, which is essential for reading and driving, even for just seeing people's faces. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in people over 65, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmologists (AAO).
Risk factors for AMD include advancing age, a family history of the disease, high blood pressure, smoking and obesity, according to the AAO. Though there are treatments that help some people, there is no cure for AMD.
Most of the treatments for AMD are relatively new, only widely available since about 2001, according to Rein. The easiest and cheapest intervention is a special vitamin/mineral combination (vitamins C, E, beta carotene, zinc and copper) that may slow the progression of AMD. This treatment only costs about $100 per year, and when used early in the disease can "reduce vision-threatening disease by 25%," Rein noted.
Other possible treatments include anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF), which slows the growth of leaking blood vessels in the eyes, laser therapy or photodynamic therapy (PDT), which combines the use of medication and laser therapy to reduce blood vessel leakage in the eyes.
Using a statistical model, the researchers estimated that the rate of visual impairment would drop by 2.4% if everyone with AMD were treated with PDT alone, but by 22% if PDT was combined with vitamin treatments. If, in the future, everyone were treated with laser therapy and anti-VEGF, visual impairment and blindness from AMD would decrease by 16.9%, and the final scenario -- early vitamin treatment and laser therapy -- would reduce serious visual problems in AMD by 34.5%.
"Age-related macular degeneration is a major public health problem, and as people are living longer, more people are going to develop some form of macular degeneration," said Dr. Alexander Aizman, a clinical instructor in the department of ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "The scenarios in this study are very plausible."
Aizman said that although there's currently no specific preventive treatment to avoid AMD altogether, the same things that keep your heart and the rest of your body healthy -- maintaining the proper weight, exercising, not smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke -- can also help keep your eyes healthy.
"If you have a relative who has been diagnosed with AMD, it's important to know that you're probably at a higher risk of AMD than the general population," said Aizman. "If you're 60 or older, have regular eye checkups with an ophthalmologist or a retinal specialist to find out if you have any early changes that suggest AMD."
SOURCES: David Rein, Ph.D., senior research economist, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; Alexander Aizman, M.D., clinical instructor, department of ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; April 2009, Archives of Ophthalmology
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Stem cell treatment for sight loss could be in use by 2012
Stem cell treatment for sight loss could be in use by 2012
Published Date: 13 April 2009
By LYNDSAY MOSS, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
A STEM cell treatment for the leading cause of sight loss in older people could be in widespread use within six years, according to researchers.
The Edinburgh Science Festival will later this week hear that scientists want to start patient trials of the treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 2012.
The work will be discussed at an event looking at drugs to treat people over 65, whose numbers are growing as better health and new treatments mean people are living for longer.
Researchers at University College London are currently working on a treatment using embryonic stem cells to replace the cells lost in the eyes of people with AMD. The condition comes in two forms – known as dry and wet – but treatment currently only exists for the wet form, and this is expensive.
Professor Peter Coffey, from the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL, said a quarter of population over 65 had AMD.
"There is a carpet of cells at the back of the eye which support the seeing part of the eye, which is the retina.
"That carpet of cells started to degenerate and die, and as a result the person goes blind because the seeing part of the retina no longer has the support that it needs.
"What we are looking at is whether we can put cells back to regenerate that middle layer."
Laboratory tests have so far been encouraging, and the researchers are working towards producing cells suitable for clinical use.
Once regulatory approval is granted, it is hoped a small trial involving about ten patients will begin in 2011-12.
Published Date: 13 April 2009
By LYNDSAY MOSS, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
A STEM cell treatment for the leading cause of sight loss in older people could be in widespread use within six years, according to researchers.
The Edinburgh Science Festival will later this week hear that scientists want to start patient trials of the treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 2012.
The work will be discussed at an event looking at drugs to treat people over 65, whose numbers are growing as better health and new treatments mean people are living for longer.
Researchers at University College London are currently working on a treatment using embryonic stem cells to replace the cells lost in the eyes of people with AMD. The condition comes in two forms – known as dry and wet – but treatment currently only exists for the wet form, and this is expensive.
Professor Peter Coffey, from the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL, said a quarter of population over 65 had AMD.
"There is a carpet of cells at the back of the eye which support the seeing part of the eye, which is the retina.
"That carpet of cells started to degenerate and die, and as a result the person goes blind because the seeing part of the retina no longer has the support that it needs.
"What we are looking at is whether we can put cells back to regenerate that middle layer."
Laboratory tests have so far been encouraging, and the researchers are working towards producing cells suitable for clinical use.
Once regulatory approval is granted, it is hoped a small trial involving about ten patients will begin in 2011-12.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
He's legally blind and a successful hitting coach
He's legally blind and a successful hitting coach
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -Mark Wetzel can't tell you exactly what his wife or children look like.
He can, however, tell you how to hit a 95 mph fastball.
Even one of baseball's greatest hitters, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, has taken the advice of the man known simply as the "blind guy.''
Left legally blind 45 years ago by macular degeneration, the 59-year-old Wetzel has immersed himself in the study of the swing for the last two decades.
His "laboratory,'' as he calls his training facility, is just a few paces from the front door of the home he shares with wife, Judy, on some land on the north edge of Omaha.
Three nights a week and Sunday afternoons, he breaks down the swings of some 50 students, little leaguers to pros who travel a winding road through the woods and turn off on a gravel driveway leading past a fishing pond to the red steel building that houses two batting cages.
Wetzel knows his students' swings, but not their faces.
He prods, encourages, tweaks.
He usually gets results.
Some have compared his logic-defying talent to that of a horse whisperer.
"Guys ask me all the time how he does it. I tell them I have no idea,'' said Matt Macri, who became Wetzel's first pupil to reach the majors when he appeared in 18 games for the Minnesota Twins last year.
Macular degeneration blurs the center of the field of vision, but Wetzel is able to use his peripheral vision to see shapes and outlines. "That's where I live,'' he said.
Wetzel said when he looks straight ahead, he can see two fingers held 2 feet from his face, but the view is cloudy.
Instead of looking directly at the batter he's instructing, he turns his head and watches him out of the corner of his eye.
"I can tell where the knob of the bat is, and I know exactly what your elbow is doing and where your head is going to go next,'' Wetzel said. "I see that outline, and I connect all the dots.
"You take your great running backs and point guards, and they have great peripheral vision. I'm not so sure they don't see the body move in a different way than the average person does. You can almost see the body move before the body goes there.''
Of course, there are those who condescend or doubt that a blind man could really teach hitting.
The folksy, self-deprecating Wetzel brushes it off.
Asked why he teaches hitting, he says, "Well, do you think I should teach catching? I'm only good for two or three knocks to the head a day.''
Wetzel said he took to heart his grandfather's lectures about not allowing blindness to stop him from doing what he wants.
So he yuks it up about the days he drove a truck for the portable-toilet business he once owned. That's right. He drove, but not for the last 15 years. And don't ask whether he had a license.
"I would go to great lengths to never turn left. That meant you had to turn against traffic,'' he said, letting out a big laugh.
He also used to be a hunting guide, but he had to quit that when he couldn't see birds' silhouettes against the sky anymore.
Baseball was his boyhood passion, and it remains so. He makes a living charging $90 for a one-hour lesson.
He is, to be sure, doing what he wants.
He points out that he's had eight of his players drafted the past six years, and some 30 have gone on to Division I college baseball since he started teaching 22 years ago.
"It's a little bit unorthodox because of his vision problems,'' said Gwynn, who became coach at San Diego State after retiring from the Padres in 2001. "He gets right in there, and he totally gets it.''
Wetzel holds once- or twice-a-month gabfests on the phone about the batter's art with Gwynn and former major league hitting coach Merv Rettenmund. Wetzel met both through a friend, Omaha native and former Padres pitching coach Dan Worthen, who's now with the New York Mets.
Wetzel earned Gwynn's respect shortly after they met about 10 years ago. Wetzel was visiting with him in the dugout before a Padres' game in St. Louis, and the conversation turned to Gwynn's swing.
Wetzel pointed out a flaw, something about the way Gwynn was pushing off with his back foot.
A career .338 hitter and winner of eight National League batting titles, Gwynn was stunned.
"Major league hitters have egos, and my first thought was, 'Who is this blind guy to tell me what I'm doing wrong?' " Gwynn recalled.
Gwynn said he thought about what Wetzel said, and discovered Wetzel was right.
"I decided to go to work on it, and I got it fixed,'' he said.
Wetzel first had trouble seeing when he was 11. He was a good ballplayer, but he started misjudging flies in the outfield and striking out.
He was legally blind three years later. His playing days were over.
He worked a variety of jobs as he got older. There were the portable-toilet and hunting-guide businesses, and he trained dogs and operated a kennel.
Baseball came back into his life when his son, Lance, started playing in the 1980s.
Wetzel wanted to help out with Lance's team but was shooed away.
"They wanted to put me on (soda) pop duty, or help the moms line up the snacks for after the games,'' he said.
Despite his blindness, he thought he could teach hitting better than Lance's coaches. He would watch instructional videos by sitting with his nose pressed up against the TV. Within a year or two, fathers started to bring their sons to see the blind guy.
Wetzel has come up with a philosophy that places a premium on the batter's ability to relax. Without prompting, he talks about shifting weight to the front of the feet through incremental chin movements. He touts the "million-dollar inch,'' referring to the front elbow's alignment over the belly button, and the importance of "centering the ball.''
"When I was a player, and even when I was coaching, I never thought anyone could teach hitting unless he had done it himself,'' Rettenmund said. "Mark Wetzel proved me wrong.''
Wetzel's students come from near and far. Macri, who grew up 130 miles away in Des Moines, Iowa, started taking lessons from Wetzel 10 years ago when he was a high school freshman. Macri lives in Chicago in the offseason, but still makes it to Wetzel's "laboratory'' once or twice a winter.
A new student, 9 years old, comes in from Kearney, about 180 miles away.
"I think the good lord,'' Wetzel said, "has given me a gift.''
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -Mark Wetzel can't tell you exactly what his wife or children look like.
He can, however, tell you how to hit a 95 mph fastball.
Even one of baseball's greatest hitters, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, has taken the advice of the man known simply as the "blind guy.''
Left legally blind 45 years ago by macular degeneration, the 59-year-old Wetzel has immersed himself in the study of the swing for the last two decades.
His "laboratory,'' as he calls his training facility, is just a few paces from the front door of the home he shares with wife, Judy, on some land on the north edge of Omaha.
Three nights a week and Sunday afternoons, he breaks down the swings of some 50 students, little leaguers to pros who travel a winding road through the woods and turn off on a gravel driveway leading past a fishing pond to the red steel building that houses two batting cages.
Wetzel knows his students' swings, but not their faces.
He prods, encourages, tweaks.
He usually gets results.
Some have compared his logic-defying talent to that of a horse whisperer.
"Guys ask me all the time how he does it. I tell them I have no idea,'' said Matt Macri, who became Wetzel's first pupil to reach the majors when he appeared in 18 games for the Minnesota Twins last year.
Macular degeneration blurs the center of the field of vision, but Wetzel is able to use his peripheral vision to see shapes and outlines. "That's where I live,'' he said.
Wetzel said when he looks straight ahead, he can see two fingers held 2 feet from his face, but the view is cloudy.
Instead of looking directly at the batter he's instructing, he turns his head and watches him out of the corner of his eye.
"I can tell where the knob of the bat is, and I know exactly what your elbow is doing and where your head is going to go next,'' Wetzel said. "I see that outline, and I connect all the dots.
"You take your great running backs and point guards, and they have great peripheral vision. I'm not so sure they don't see the body move in a different way than the average person does. You can almost see the body move before the body goes there.''
Of course, there are those who condescend or doubt that a blind man could really teach hitting.
The folksy, self-deprecating Wetzel brushes it off.
Asked why he teaches hitting, he says, "Well, do you think I should teach catching? I'm only good for two or three knocks to the head a day.''
Wetzel said he took to heart his grandfather's lectures about not allowing blindness to stop him from doing what he wants.
So he yuks it up about the days he drove a truck for the portable-toilet business he once owned. That's right. He drove, but not for the last 15 years. And don't ask whether he had a license.
"I would go to great lengths to never turn left. That meant you had to turn against traffic,'' he said, letting out a big laugh.
He also used to be a hunting guide, but he had to quit that when he couldn't see birds' silhouettes against the sky anymore.
Baseball was his boyhood passion, and it remains so. He makes a living charging $90 for a one-hour lesson.
He is, to be sure, doing what he wants.
He points out that he's had eight of his players drafted the past six years, and some 30 have gone on to Division I college baseball since he started teaching 22 years ago.
"It's a little bit unorthodox because of his vision problems,'' said Gwynn, who became coach at San Diego State after retiring from the Padres in 2001. "He gets right in there, and he totally gets it.''
Wetzel holds once- or twice-a-month gabfests on the phone about the batter's art with Gwynn and former major league hitting coach Merv Rettenmund. Wetzel met both through a friend, Omaha native and former Padres pitching coach Dan Worthen, who's now with the New York Mets.
Wetzel earned Gwynn's respect shortly after they met about 10 years ago. Wetzel was visiting with him in the dugout before a Padres' game in St. Louis, and the conversation turned to Gwynn's swing.
Wetzel pointed out a flaw, something about the way Gwynn was pushing off with his back foot.
A career .338 hitter and winner of eight National League batting titles, Gwynn was stunned.
"Major league hitters have egos, and my first thought was, 'Who is this blind guy to tell me what I'm doing wrong?' " Gwynn recalled.
Gwynn said he thought about what Wetzel said, and discovered Wetzel was right.
"I decided to go to work on it, and I got it fixed,'' he said.
Wetzel first had trouble seeing when he was 11. He was a good ballplayer, but he started misjudging flies in the outfield and striking out.
He was legally blind three years later. His playing days were over.
He worked a variety of jobs as he got older. There were the portable-toilet and hunting-guide businesses, and he trained dogs and operated a kennel.
Baseball came back into his life when his son, Lance, started playing in the 1980s.
Wetzel wanted to help out with Lance's team but was shooed away.
"They wanted to put me on (soda) pop duty, or help the moms line up the snacks for after the games,'' he said.
Despite his blindness, he thought he could teach hitting better than Lance's coaches. He would watch instructional videos by sitting with his nose pressed up against the TV. Within a year or two, fathers started to bring their sons to see the blind guy.
Wetzel has come up with a philosophy that places a premium on the batter's ability to relax. Without prompting, he talks about shifting weight to the front of the feet through incremental chin movements. He touts the "million-dollar inch,'' referring to the front elbow's alignment over the belly button, and the importance of "centering the ball.''
"When I was a player, and even when I was coaching, I never thought anyone could teach hitting unless he had done it himself,'' Rettenmund said. "Mark Wetzel proved me wrong.''
Wetzel's students come from near and far. Macri, who grew up 130 miles away in Des Moines, Iowa, started taking lessons from Wetzel 10 years ago when he was a high school freshman. Macri lives in Chicago in the offseason, but still makes it to Wetzel's "laboratory'' once or twice a winter.
A new student, 9 years old, comes in from Kearney, about 180 miles away.
"I think the good lord,'' Wetzel said, "has given me a gift.''
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Zebra fish used to study blindness
Zebra fish used to study blindness
Published: April 3, 2009 at 12:14 PM
WEST LAYFAYETTE, Ind., April 3 (UPI) -- Experiments with zebra fish are helping identify genes linked to retinal diseases that cause blindness, a Purdue University scientist said.
"Once we know the genetic network that influences retinal development, we can begin to understand the changes in specific genes that lead to vision loss," Yuk Fai Leung said.
With such information, treatments could be developed to prevent or reverse diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, he said.
Using zebra fish, which are closer to humans in eye development than mice or other animal models, a Purdue team developed a new analysis method for analyzing key genes linked to retinal development.
The method can examine thousands of genes and analyze several experimental changes simultaneously, allowing scientists to understand how one change leads to another in degenerative diseases, Leung said.
Retinal degenerative diseases are some of the leading causes of blindness and low vision in an estimated 3.3 million people age 40 and older in the United States, the National Eye Institute said.
Published: April 3, 2009 at 12:14 PM
WEST LAYFAYETTE, Ind., April 3 (UPI) -- Experiments with zebra fish are helping identify genes linked to retinal diseases that cause blindness, a Purdue University scientist said.
"Once we know the genetic network that influences retinal development, we can begin to understand the changes in specific genes that lead to vision loss," Yuk Fai Leung said.
With such information, treatments could be developed to prevent or reverse diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, he said.
Using zebra fish, which are closer to humans in eye development than mice or other animal models, a Purdue team developed a new analysis method for analyzing key genes linked to retinal development.
The method can examine thousands of genes and analyze several experimental changes simultaneously, allowing scientists to understand how one change leads to another in degenerative diseases, Leung said.
Retinal degenerative diseases are some of the leading causes of blindness and low vision in an estimated 3.3 million people age 40 and older in the United States, the National Eye Institute said.
Monday, March 30, 2009
FDA Panel to Review Sci-Fi Device for AMD
FDA Panel to Review Sci-Fi Device for AMD
By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: March 27, 2009
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Click here to rate this report
GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 27 -- An FDA advisory committee may recommend today that patients with macular degeneration have access to a technology straight out of the 1970s TV show, The Six Million Dollar Man.
On tap for the Ophthalmic Devices Panel is a miniature telescope that is implanted in the eye. On television, it gave Steve Austin super-long-range vision.
But the real-life product up for premarket approval won't play a role in covert government operations -- it's intended to improve the eyesight of elderly people with macular degeneration.
Called the Implantable Miniature Telescope, the device is made by Vision Care Ophthalmic Technologies, which wants to market it for patients who are 65 or older with stable moderate to profound vision impairment caused by bilateral central scotomas associated with end-stage age-related macular degeneration.
The device directs light from the lens onto still-functioning portions of the macula to maintain central sight. It increases vision up to about three meters, helping patients to read and perform other close-up tasks, though doing nothing for their ability to drive.
The device would be implanted in one eye. Because it only improves central vision, implant recipients would rely on the opposite eye for peripheral sight.
The application calls for the device to be implanted by cornea specialists who are trained by Vision Care.
This is the second time the company has sought FDA approval for the device.
The panel voted against recommending approval in 2006, saying there was not enough proof the telescope was effective and too much evidence that it was not safe.
Most concerning to the 2006 panel was higher-than-expected cell loss in the implanted eye.
Since then, the sponsor has submitted longer-term data showing the telescope improves central vision. But the studies also showed that the benefit decreases over time.
Also since the last meeting, there have been an additional seven reports of late-occurring corneal edema. Ten of the 13 total cases of corneal edema were observed two years after surgery.
In addition, more cases of corneal decompensation have turned up in the long-term data.
For the original study, researchers implanted one of two versions of the telescope in 206 patients with incurable central vision disorders and who were over 55 and had a need for cataract surgery.
To be eligible for the trial, patients needed to have "best corrected distance visual acuity" between 20/80 and 20/800, and have adequate peripheral vision in the nonimplanted eye.
The primary endpoint for efficacy was improvement of two lines or greater in either near or distance vision, which was achieved in 86% of patients at follow-up.
But the data indicated that the longer the telescope stays in place, the effectiveness diminishes slightly.
For instance, at 12 months, 90% of patients had two lines of improved vision in either near or distance vision, but at 24 months, that number dropped to 86% (P<0.001 for both).
At 12 months, 73% of patients had improvements in both near and distance vision simultaneously. At two years, that percentage dropped to 67% of patients.
In a four-year follow-up that the company completed at the request of the FDA, just 68% of the patients achieved a two-line or greater gain in either long distance or near vision four years after the surgery.
Eyes with profound vision impairment showed a more significant improvement compared with those with moderate vision impairment, which was sustained throughout the entire study period.
During the study, five eyes lost more than two lines of vision, and eight devices were eventually removed because of patient dissatisfaction.
The panel, which is chaired by Jayne Weiss, M.D., an ophthalmologist from the Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, will decide whether the new data provide reasonable assurance of an acceptable long-term risk of corneal decompensation.
The panel will also decide whether the sponsor took into account the improvement in vision after cataract removal without telescope implantation.
By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: March 27, 2009
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Click here to rate this report
GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 27 -- An FDA advisory committee may recommend today that patients with macular degeneration have access to a technology straight out of the 1970s TV show, The Six Million Dollar Man.
On tap for the Ophthalmic Devices Panel is a miniature telescope that is implanted in the eye. On television, it gave Steve Austin super-long-range vision.
But the real-life product up for premarket approval won't play a role in covert government operations -- it's intended to improve the eyesight of elderly people with macular degeneration.
Called the Implantable Miniature Telescope, the device is made by Vision Care Ophthalmic Technologies, which wants to market it for patients who are 65 or older with stable moderate to profound vision impairment caused by bilateral central scotomas associated with end-stage age-related macular degeneration.
The device directs light from the lens onto still-functioning portions of the macula to maintain central sight. It increases vision up to about three meters, helping patients to read and perform other close-up tasks, though doing nothing for their ability to drive.
The device would be implanted in one eye. Because it only improves central vision, implant recipients would rely on the opposite eye for peripheral sight.
The application calls for the device to be implanted by cornea specialists who are trained by Vision Care.
This is the second time the company has sought FDA approval for the device.
The panel voted against recommending approval in 2006, saying there was not enough proof the telescope was effective and too much evidence that it was not safe.
Most concerning to the 2006 panel was higher-than-expected cell loss in the implanted eye.
Since then, the sponsor has submitted longer-term data showing the telescope improves central vision. But the studies also showed that the benefit decreases over time.
Also since the last meeting, there have been an additional seven reports of late-occurring corneal edema. Ten of the 13 total cases of corneal edema were observed two years after surgery.
In addition, more cases of corneal decompensation have turned up in the long-term data.
For the original study, researchers implanted one of two versions of the telescope in 206 patients with incurable central vision disorders and who were over 55 and had a need for cataract surgery.
To be eligible for the trial, patients needed to have "best corrected distance visual acuity" between 20/80 and 20/800, and have adequate peripheral vision in the nonimplanted eye.
The primary endpoint for efficacy was improvement of two lines or greater in either near or distance vision, which was achieved in 86% of patients at follow-up.
But the data indicated that the longer the telescope stays in place, the effectiveness diminishes slightly.
For instance, at 12 months, 90% of patients had two lines of improved vision in either near or distance vision, but at 24 months, that number dropped to 86% (P<0.001 for both).
At 12 months, 73% of patients had improvements in both near and distance vision simultaneously. At two years, that percentage dropped to 67% of patients.
In a four-year follow-up that the company completed at the request of the FDA, just 68% of the patients achieved a two-line or greater gain in either long distance or near vision four years after the surgery.
Eyes with profound vision impairment showed a more significant improvement compared with those with moderate vision impairment, which was sustained throughout the entire study period.
During the study, five eyes lost more than two lines of vision, and eight devices were eventually removed because of patient dissatisfaction.
The panel, which is chaired by Jayne Weiss, M.D., an ophthalmologist from the Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, will decide whether the new data provide reasonable assurance of an acceptable long-term risk of corneal decompensation.
The panel will also decide whether the sponsor took into account the improvement in vision after cataract removal without telescope implantation.
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