Dr. Jordi Monés teaches viewers about AMD on TV3’s Els Matins

A lesson on the phases, causes and consequences of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) formed a major part of a recent interview with Dr. Jordi Monés on the Els Matins programme broadcast by Catalonia’s TV3 channel. The Medical Director of the Barcelona Macula Foundation: Research for Vision explained the factors that make AMD the leading cause of blindness in the over 50s. He also said that treatments now exist for the wet form of the disease and that research is in progress that should enable the atrophic form to be controlled in the next few years.

TV3’s set and cameras were used to stage a simulation of how AMD affects a patient’s visual field. The programme also compared a series of images that showed graphically how a healthy eye functions and how it is affected as the disease progresses.

Dr. Monés stressed the importance of early AMD diagnosis as it is easier to control when in its initial stages. “It is really important in the case of degenerative diseases to detect them in time”, he said.

The BMF’s Medical Director explained that the clinical trials to discover treatments for the atrophic form of AMD have now begun as a result of collaborative projects with institutions throughout Europe. He said that Catalonia possesses the tools and talent to find solutions for these pathologies but added that “we need a lot of financial investment to move them forward. Some years ago, we lacked both the tools and the financial resources. Now we have the tools but we’re on stand-by due to a lack of funding”.

You can watch the full interview (in Catalan) here.