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Ординатура / Офтальмология / Учебные материалы / Age-related Macular Degeneration Springer.pdf
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Reading with AMD

19

 

S. Trauzettel-Klosinski

 

Core Messages

Reading is a crucial function, which is relevant for everyday life.

The loss of reading ability in AMD means a serious reduction of quality of life.

With appropriate adaptive strategies (eccentric fixation) and rehabilitation measures (visual aids and training), reading ability can be maintained or regained in most patients with AMD.

Standardized methods for specific diagnostics are available.

Table 19.1 Reading ability means

Independence

Communication

Participation in social life

Mental agility

Quality of life

patients, the need for rehabilitation will further increase during the next years [1–3].

Reading is neither spelling, nor an integrative view of a text. Reading is a complex sensory-motor-cogni- tive process, which can be impaired by various factors, especially by central visual field defects [4]. On the other hand, this process can also be improved by specific measures, utilizing the knowledge about the pathophysiology of reading.

19.1Introduction

The loss of reading ability is the main complaint of patients with AMD. Reading is of high significance for an independent life-style and the general quality of life (Table 19.1). Therefore, the main goal in rehabilitation of AMD patients is to maintain and to reconstitute reading ability. Due to the increasing number of AMD

S. Trauzettel-Klosinski

Low Vision Clinic and Research Laboratory, Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

e-mail: susanne.trauzettel-klosinski@uni-tuebingen.de

19.2Physiological Principles

The retinal area used for reading comprises only a few square millimetres, but it is disproportionately over-rep- resentated in the visual cortex. The central 10° (diameter) of the visual field, which correspond to approximately 2% of the total visual field, utilise nearly 50% of the primary visual cortex [5].

Visual acuity decreases rapidly with increasing eccentricity (Fig. 19.1). A visual acuity of about 0.4 is necessary to recognize newspaper print at a distance of 25 cm. This visual acuity can be found at the margin of the fovea, for example.

During fixation, a group of letters is perceived and therefore, a reading visual field of a certain minimum

F.G. Holz et al. (eds.), Age-related Macular Degeneration,

287

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-22107-1_19, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013