Eye calcifications raise AMD risk

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in collaboration with the Queen's University Belfast made a breakthrough discovery regarding age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Researchers discovered that calcified nodules in the retina are linked to an increase risk for the progression to advanced AMD. Researchers studied clinical imaging in patients as well as molecular analysis of eye samples and discovered that large, calcified nodules in the retina are markers of the risk of progression for the late stages AMD. These calcified nodules were associated with the degeneration of retinal cells that were close by. This ground-breaking discovery will hopefully lead to new ways of intervening in the growth of these nodules as well as monitoring the progression of retinal degeneration with imaging. *