About our work
The Unit on Clinical Investigation of Retinal Disease’s interest is in understanding the retinal disease from clinical study to provide insights into disease pathogenesis, developing outcome measures for clinical trials and conducting interventional trials.
Our group uses multi-disciplinary approaches to clinical study aimed at understanding the patterns of photoreceptor dysfunction and degeneration in retinal disease. The retina is uniquely positioned for advancement in therapeutic intervention for disease. Its accessibility, unique biology and advances in functional assessment tools and imaging make the focus poised for progress in advancing translational research.
Current research
The current research areas include retinitis pigmentosa (RP), late onset retinal degeneration (LORD), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and drug toxicity (hydroxychloroquine) induced retinal degeneration. The ability to draw on the large population of patients with both common and rare diseases that are seen at the NEI enable us to study the state of photoreceptor dysfunction across diseases and severities and to implement treatments to change the trajectory of cell death.
Ongoing active clinical trials
19-EI-0056: A Survey Study of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) Clinical Measures and Repeatability Testing of Potential Outcome Measures
18-EI-0068: An Investigation of Vitamin A Palmitate Supplementation in Patients with Reticular Pseudodrusen (RPD) and Delayed Dark AdaptationAn Investigation of Vitamin A Palmitate Supplementation in Patients with Reticular Pseudodrusen (RPD) and Delayed Dark Adaptation
18-EI-0067: An Investigation of Vitamin A Palmitate Supplementation in Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (and without reticular pseudodrusen) and Delayed Dark Adaptation
17-EI-0112: A Long-term Follow-up Study of Participants Enrolled in 11-EI-0147: Longitudinal Investigation of Dark Adaptation in Participants with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (DA_AMD)
11-EI-0147: Longitudinal Investigation of Dark Adaptation in Participants with Age-Related Macular Degeneration
10-EI-0140: Genotype-Phenotype Study of Patients with Plaquenil -Induced Retinal Toxicity, with Evaluation of the ABCA4 Gene
03-EI-0033: X-Linked Juvenile Retinoschisis - Clinical and Molecular Studies
Selected publications
Chen KG, Alvarez JA, Yazdanie M, Papudesu C, Wong WT, Wiley HE, Keenan TD, Chew EY, Ferris FL 3rd, Cukras CA. Longitudinal Study of Dark Adaptation as a Functional Outcome Measure for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Ophthalmology. 2019 Jun;126(6):856-865.
Flamendorf J, Agrón E, Wong WT, Thompson D, Wiley HE, Doss EL, Al-Holou S, Ferris FL 3rd, Chew EY, Cukras C. Impairments in Dark Adaptation Are Associated with Age-Related Macular Degeneration Severity and Reticular Pseudodrusen. Ophthalmology. 2015 Oct;122(10):2053-62. PMID: 26253372
Yazdanie M, Alvarez J, Agrón E, Wong WT, Wiley HE, Ferris FL 3rd, Chew EY, Cukras C. Decreased Visual Function Scores on a Low Luminance Questionnaire Is Associated with Impaired Dark Adaptation. Ophthalmology. 2017 Jun 8.
Allahdina AM, Stetson PF, Vitale S, Wong WT, Chew EY, Iii FLF, Sieving PA, Cukras C. Optical Coherence Tomography Minimum Intensity as an Objective Measure for the Detection of Hydroxychloroquine Toxicity. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2018 Apr 1;59(5):1953-1963.
Cukras C, Huynh N, Vitale S, Wong WT, Ferris FL 3rd, Sieving PA. Subjective and Objective Screening Tests for Hydroxychloroquine Toxicity. Ophthalmology. 2014 Oct 14. pii: S0161-6420(14)00735-0.
