Study Shows "False Positive" Alert Predicts Increased Risk of Wet AMD Conversion
February 2023
The cause of ForeseeHome alerts that are not due to a conversion to neovascular, or wet, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is unknown, but it may result from changes in the intermediate dry AMD that cause visual distortion or what is called metamorphopsia. These are therefore non-exudative alerts, which have been referred to as false positive alerts, since exudative alerts are due to exudation of fluid or blood in or under the retina, a characteristic feature of wet AMD. The HOME study, published in 2014, showed that the false positive or nonexudative alerts were uncommon, with a patient expected to have a false alert only every 4.2 years. However, there are some patients who do have multiple alerts.
The ALOFT study, published in Ophthalmology Retina, a journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2022, was a study looking at patients monitored with ForeseeHome over 10 years from five large practices in the US. This study confirmed the value of ForeseeHome in detecting wet AMD while the visual acuity was good in a real-world setting, allowing for treatment to preserve that vision. This study also provided evidence of the long-term visual benefit of monitored patients who converted to wet AMD, were treated, and followed for several years.
A group recently looked at the ALOFT study data to see if there was any significance of false positive alerts. What that study showed was that those with a nonexudative alert (or false positive alert) had a higher risk of converting to wet AMD compared to patients who did not have a nonexudative alert. The risk was even higher if the patient had one eye that had wet AMD and the other, monitored eye, had intermediate dry AMD. In short, false positive alerts predicted a higher risk of conversion to wet AMD.
Having a false positive alert is telling you and your doctor that you need to be vigilant in monitoring your eyes by testing regularly with ForeseeHome and by following any other advice you are given by your doctor. This advice may include contacting your doctor’s office if you develop any symptoms such as distortion with straight lines, decreased vision, or visual changes that you find out of the ordinary between office visits. This is in addition, of course, to seeing your doctor in the office for regular visits as scheduled.
