The aim of this working group is to gain new insights into the pathogenesis of eye diseases and to develop new treatment methods. A particular focus is on new imaging techniques for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, dry eye symptoms and the administration of medication.
Our main focus
- Functional optical coherence tomography
- Neurovascular coupling in the retina and the optic nerve head
- Mechanisms of autoregulation of blood flow in the eye
- The role of nutritional supplements in the treatment of eye diseases
- New approaches for the characterisation and treatment of dry eye symptoms
Technologies used
- All standard ophthalmological examinations (i.e. slit lamp examination, vital staining, ETDRS visual acuity determination, computer perimetry)
- TearLab® (tear film osmolarity)
- Optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography
- Measurement of the lipid layer thickness of the tear film (LipiView)
- Impression cytology
- Laser speckle flowgraphy (retinal, optic nerve head and choroidal perfusion)
- Dynamic Vessel Analyser (real-time recording of retinal vessel diameters during the cardiac cycle and/or during stimulation with flicker light)
- Retinal Vessel Analyser (retinal oxygen saturation)
All devices are CE certified and regularly calibrated.
Cooperations
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Vienna
- Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI)
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
- Institute of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Basel, Switzerland
- Devers Eye Institute, Portland, Oregon, USA
- Vienna Institute for Research in Ocular Surgery – Karl Landsteiner Institute, Hanusch Hospital, Vienna, Austria
- Center of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna
- Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Vienna
Assoc. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Gerhard Garhöfer
Head of Ophthalmo-Pharmacology Working GroupAssociate Professor
E-Mail: gerhard.garhoefer@meduniwien.ac.at
Selected scientific publications
- Hommer N, Kallab M, Schlatter A, Howorka K, Werkmeister RM, Schmidl D, Schmetterer L, and Garhöfer G, Retinal Oxygen Metabolism in Patients with Type II Diabetes and Different Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy. Diabetes, 2022 DOI: 10.2337/db22-0219.
- Schmidl D, Szalai L, Kiss OG, Schmetterer L, and Garhöfer G, A Phase II, Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Masked Trial of a Topical Estradiol Ophthalmic Formulation in Postmenopausal Women with Moderate-to-Severe Dry Eye Disease. Adv Ther, 2021. 38(4): p. 1975-1986 DOI: 10.1007/s12325-021-01680-3.
- Hommer N, Kallab M, Szegedi S, Puchner S, Stjepanek K, Bauer M, Werkmeister RM, Schmetterer L, Abensperg-Traun M, Garhöfer G, and Schmidl D, The Effect of Orally Administered Dronabinol on Optic Nerve Head Blood Flow in Healthy Subjects-A Randomized Clinical Trial. Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2020. 108(1): p. 155-161 DOI: 10.1002/cpt.1797.
- Schmidl D, Schlatter A, Chua J, Tan B, Garhöfer G, and Schmetterer L, Novel Approaches for Imaging-Based Diagnosis of Ocular Surface Disease. Diagnostics (Basel), 2020. 10(8) DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics10080589.
- Sacchetti M, Lambiase A, Schmidl D, Schmetterer L, Ferrari M, Mantelli F, Allegretti M, and Garhoefer G, Effect of recombinant human nerve growth factor eye drops in patients with dry eye: a phase IIa, open label, multiple-dose study. Br J Ophthalmol, 2020. 104(1): p. 127-135 DOI: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2018-312470.
- Labetoulle M, Leonardi A, Amrane M, Ismail D, Garrigue JS, Garhöfer G, de la Maza MS, and Baudouin C, Persistence of Efficacy of 0.1% Cyclosporin A Cationic Emulsion in Subjects with Severe Keratitis Due to Dry Eye Disease: A Nonrandomized, Open-label Extension of the SANSIKA Study. Clin Ther, 2018. 40(11): p. 1894-1906 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2018.09.012.