Multi-center study following patients with age-related macular degeneration and large swellings in the macula. For these patients, there is no treatment. Advanced imaging technology is used to identify early signs of leakage from blood vessels requiring treatment and other risk factors for loss of visual function. Arnt-Ole Tvenning defended his dissertation "Drusenoid pigment epithelial detachments and age-related macular degeneration" in 2020. The planned follow-up period for the participants in the study is 5 years.

Project Øyenstikker is a randomized controlled study and a task shifting project at the Eye Department at St. Olav's Hospital. We have tested and concluded that nurses can perform eye surgery with just as good results as doctors. The operation involves injecting a medicine into the patient's eye, hence the name Øyenstikker. The results have been published in the journal Acta Ophthalmologica and are publicly available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aos.14184. This is the most common operation performed in ophthalmology today. More than 6,000 such operations are performed annually at St. Olav's hospital alone. Until now, all such operations have been carried out by doctors, but after the results of the study were available, nurses at the Eye Department at St. Olav's Hospital have taken over all these operations. This saves the hospital considerable medical resources. The training program we used in the study is quality assured and simplified. You can read about the program and the nurses' satisfaction with the training and the new tasks here: Scopus - Document details - Task shifting of intravitreal injections from physicians to nurses: a qualitative study

Stine Bolme is a PhD scholar in Project Øyenstikker. She is now working on economic analyzes of the shifting in task from doctors to nurses..

Observe-and-Plan (OnP) is the name of a treatment strategy for the retinal disease age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This new strategy lays out long-term plans for the patients and involves fewer checks. A pilot survey we conducted in 2017-18 showed that patients who switched treatment strategies were more satisfied after switching to OnP than before. Patient satisfaction following a switch from treat-and-extend to observe-and-plan regimen in age-related macular degeneration | BMJ Open Ophthalmology

Through a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we are now testing whether the strategy provides as good treatment results as the standard strategy (Treat-and-Extend) in patients with newly diagnosed disease. We examine vision results, patient satisfaction and possible savings for the healthcare system. The study is a collaboration between NTNU, St. Olav's hospital and the eye department in Bodø, Molde, Ålesund and Elverum. Margrete Sætre Hassen is a PhD scholar in the project.

In collaberation with associate professor Kari Anne Indredavik Evensen at tehe department of Cancer and Molecular Biology and NTNU Low Birth Weight Life Study (NTNU LBW Life), we investigate vision in adults born prematurely. You can read more about the project here.

The Norwegian quality registry for retinopathy of prematurity, NOKROP, is a national registry of retinal changes (retinopathy) associated with premature birth. The registry is part of the Norwegian Neonatal Medicine Quality Register (NNK), which is subject to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. On the website of NNK there is information about the register and a film about the eye examination: https://www.kvalitetsregistre.no/registers/norsk-nyfodtmedisinsk-kvalitetsregister

NOKROP was put into use from 01/01/2017 and the plan is for all eye departments that screen premature babies for retinopathy to enter their data in the registry. The purpose of the registry is to gain knowledge about the occurrence of ROP, the course of the disease and to ensure the quality of screening and treatment of the disease in Norway. In 2018, two medical students wrote a main thesis on ROP in Norway in the years 2007-2017. They found regional differences in disease incidence: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aos.14593. We are now going further and studying the cause of these differences with the PhD project "Optimizing examination and treatment for infants with retinopathy of prematurity in Norway" for fellow Kyrre Moljord.