Thursday, June 25, 2009

Retinitis Pigmentosa Trials

There is a new trial open for RP patients, has to do with stress and RP and whether stress causes variations in acuity .
Looks like most if not all, will be done over phone and computer,, they are recruiting,,, also there is a trial ongoing , not recruiting , that we can all try to keep up with on a cell implantation, results not out yet.

About the study that is recruiting,,,,

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/search

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients experience a slowly progressive, unpredictable loss of vision which eventually leads to bare or no light perception, posing a continuous threat to patients' independence. Negative psychological states such as distress, sleepiness, anxiety and depression are common in RP patients due to the nature of this chronic, disabling disease. Psychophysical vision measures are more variable in legally blind RP subjects than in normally sighted individuals, and RP patients indicate that variations in vision are often related to stress. The primary goal of this research is to examine the vision fluctuations within and between days among RP patients using vision tests self-administered by patients through their home computers, and determine associations with factors such as perceived stress, mood states, sleepiness, weather or light exposure. The administration of questionnaires will allow us to gain some insight into which underlying psychological factors impact certain vision measures, allowing the design of future interventional research to attempt to reduce such factors. The aims of many future treatment clinical trials for RP will be to improve vision and/or reduce the rate of vision loss; thus the sources that lead to increased variability of vision need to be identified and alleviated to enable precise evaluation of interventions and improve patients' quality of life.

2 comments:

  1. There are a number of peer review research studies showing the value of supplementing with specific nutrients to help preserve vision for those with retinitis pigmentosa.

    Some specific nutrients include: Vitamin A Palmitate, omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil), lutein,
    Vitamins A, C, and alpha lipoid acid.

    Peer Review Research Studies at Natural Eye Care and Retinitis Pigmentosa

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  2. I normally would not post a comment from someone who is linking to a sales site, and be warned, the above comment does link to his sales site, however, there is a study out that claims vitamin A palmitate etc will help slow the progress of RP,
    http://www.masseyeandear.org/for-patients/patient-guide/patient-education/diseases-and-conditions/rp-and-supplements/

    that being said, I am somewhat skeptical of claims to " slow " the progression since RP is usually a slowly progressive disease to start with and from my experience with people with RP, different people progress at different rates, my own was fairly stable until I went to Downing and McPeak.

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