Retina Australia

VR assessment of vision in achromatopsia

VR assessment of vision in achromatopsia

This 1-year research project led by Dr. Elisa Cornish and her team at the Save Sight Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, aims to address the challenge of determining clinical trial outcome measures for advanced inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Traditional measures like visual acuity and retinal imaging are proving inadequate for ...

GOAL

$26,319

Australia > NSW > Metro
01/01/2024 > 31/12/2024

Field of Interest

  • Health/wellbeing and medical research

Target Population

  • People with a disability, illness or disease
Retina Australia Retina Australia

Retina Australia is a national, charitable organisation dedicated to supporting people affected by inherited retinal diseases. As an independent organisation, Retina Australia funds and facilitates innovative medical research into inherited retinal diseases through a competitive grants selection process from the top researchers in the country. Our research focus is on early detection, discovering preventions and new treatments, with the ultimate goal to unlocking cures.

As a membership organisation, Retina Australia also provides a current, evidence-based, comprehensive and accessible information platform and service on inherited retinal diseases. This includes providing details about the over 20 different types of inherited retinal diseases, information about inheritance patterns, genetic testing, updates on the latest research developments, clinical trials, emerging treatments, different eye care professionals, assistive technology and tools, along with practical guides for the newly diagnosed and those for family and friends.

We also facilitate peer-to-peer social groups and provide phone support and referrals to other professional and community support organisations.

Inherited retinal diseases are conditions caused by a genetic variation that may lead to significant loss of vision and in many cases, blindness. With an estimated 19,000 Australians with an inherited retinal disease, they are the leading cause of blindness in working age adults and the second leading cause of blindness in children in Australia.

There are no cures and there is only one treatment, for one type of rare form of inherited retinal disease. Help us change that.

Project Summary

This 1-year research project led by Dr. Elisa Cornish and her team at the Save Sight Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, aims to address the challenge of determining clinical trial outcome measures for advanced inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Traditional measures like visual acuity and retinal imaging are proving inadequate for assessing slowly progressive IRDs. Instead, the project focuses on assessing mobility and light discomfort thresholds in patients, particularly those with achromatopsia (ACHM), a condition characterised by photosensitivity and poor mobility in visually impaired individuals.

The study will assess 20 patients each with achromatopsia, albinism, and healthy volunteers. Three patient-reported outcome questionnaires focusing on mobility and vision impairment will be utilised. Ocular examinations will include various tests such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and imaging techniques. Additionally, a virtual reality (VR) mobility assessment tool will be employed to measure parameters like collisions, walking speed, task time, and head movement.

The goal is to determine whether VR mobility assessment parameters can serve as biomarkers for functional vision in ACHM patients and whether they can document longitudinal changes in vision. Successful clinical trials for IRDs are crucial as there are limited treatment options available. By improving assessment tools, the study aims to enhance the accuracy of clinical trials in identifying effective treatments, benefiting patients not only with ACHM and albinism but also potentially those with other IRDs.

Project Outcomes

The recent high-profile failure of multimillion dollar clinical trials to reach their trial endpoints highlights the crucial need to select the best visual function measures for slowly progressive IRDs. Functional vision is best assessed by having patients complete everyday activities in real-life settings. However, this is time-consuming and rarely feasible in clinical settings.

This study aims to enhance visual function assessment in IRD clinical trials for slowly progressing IRDs by identifying key parameters in virtual reality (VR) assessments, particularly focusing on individuals with photoaversion and photophobia.

We will know that our VR mobility assessment tool is a better test for clinical trials if we can find a better correlation between the patient’s performance on this VR tool under varying light intensities and their reported daily functioning abilities and/or our measured function on standardised clinical ophthalmic assessments. This will establish it as a reliable marker of visual function.

Once achieved, this will enable streamlined and reproducible assessments compared to existing methods like multi-luminance mobility testing, potentially facilitating wider adoption in international trial centres. Regulatory bodies require measurable improvements in visual function to support gene therapies. Thus, successful integration of VR mobility assessments will provide tangible evidence of treatment efficacy or the slowing of vision degradation below the legal blindness threshold (6/60), meeting regulatory standards.

Ultimately following this study, the VR headset may become a standard measure for assessing functional visual outcomes in future clinical trials.

Budget Breakdown

TOTAL BUDGET: $52,638
FUNDING
Funding source Amount
Retina Australia (confirmed) $26,319
Funding gap (unconfirmed) $26,319
EXPENSES
Expense item Amount
FTE0.5 Research orthoptist $47,138
Software update of virtual reality software to optimize reports for new photoaversion analysis $5,000
Consumables $500

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Level 6, 126 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne VIC 3002

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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