ProgStar: Fighting Inherited Macular Degeneration in Young People

Doheny doctors treat patients with retinal disease daily; and we also work continuously with colleagues around the world to find ways to fight these diseases. I want to share a few insights about one of those important efforts —a study of Stargardt’s Disease called ProgStar, sponsored by the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

ProgStar uses data sets from all over the world to analyze images and eye exam results in a quest to understand the rate of progression of Stargardt’s disease and how it can best be thwarted or eliminated. The data allows us to evaluate, and to better understand, how quickly the retina is deteriorating and how that decline is affecting visual acuity.

I am happy to let you know the Doheny Image Reading Center is the reading center for all of the data collected in the ProgStar study. Our work at the DIRC is integral to this critical research, and the meaning is significant: with adequate data, the launch of studies to test and approve drugs to treat Stargardt’s is imminent.

We are grateful to all who support our outstanding facilities, doctors and technicians at the Doheny Eye Institute. Our team and our state of the art equipment make this work on the ProgStar study possible. We know the findings matter greatly to many young people and adults facing macular degeneration.