MIND-AMD Study: a Multidisciplinary Investigation of Neuroretinal Damage in Age-related Macular Degeneration. (MIND-AMD)

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the major cause of legal blindness in developed countries. Intermediate AMD represents the most frequent stage. However, it often evolves towards complicated stages, namely neovascular AMD or geographic atrophy (GA). Despite the available treatments, the visual outcome is highly heterogeneous. The scientific interest is growing regarding the assessment of neuroretinal changes in AMD. Although AMD is mainly considered an outer retinal disease, recent evidence suggests a major involvement of retinal glia and neurons, i.e. an involvement of the inner retina. This damage may remarkably affect the morphological and functional AMD outcome, subverting retinal signal transmission cascade and more clearly explaining the outcome of the disease. The main goal of this study is to perform a multidisciplinary, multicenter, both prospective and retrospective evaluation of neuroretinal degeneration in different AMD stages in preclinical and clinical models.