Ophthalmic Findings During 10-year Enzyme Substitution of Danish Fabry Patients.

NCT ID: NCT01997489

Last Updated: 2014-10-28

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE4
• Total Enrollment: 39 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2001-09-30
• Study Completion Date: 2014-10-31

Brief Summary

Fabry disease is a recessively inherited disorder due to systemic storage of abnormal metabolites (ceramide trihexocide, in particular) caused by lack of the lysosomal enzyme α-galactosidase. Though X-linked, in patient series there are often equal numbers of males (hemizygotes ) and females (heterozygotes, probably caused by a mutation in one allele and an inactivation on the other allele in the X chromosomes), and many clinical features are shared.

Abnormal storage in endothelial and smooth muscle cells explains morbidity, including a shortened life expectancy. This is due to age dependent ischaemic manifestations that affect heart, kidney and brain. Angiofibroma is an early cutaneous manifestation, and painful acro-paresthesias express juvenile neuropathy.

Cornea verticillata is an almost obligate ophthalmic finding. The brown-yellow Bowman membrane related corneal deposits and teleangiectatic conjunctival vessels are early ophthalmic slit-lamp markers of the disorder; further there can be subtle lens opacities. Fundus vessel tortuosity is observed in many patients, in particular of the retinal venules, but best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is usually normal.

After the introduction of enzyme substitution therapy in 2001, ophthalmic examinations were scheduled as regular part of the general evaluation of the Fabry patients at Rigshospitalet, Denmark. A 10-year ophthalmic state of arts was part of oral presentations at a Copenhagen conference in December 2011. In contrast to the common occurrence of systemic vascular sequels, only one patient in the series had suffered severe visual loss; this was unilateral and occurred years before institution of the enzyme therapy. In 2013, however, another young male presented a similar retinal event. Sporadic cases of visual loss are reported in the literature, but in larger Fabry series ocular vascular catastrophes appear the exception to the rule.

Following the introduction of enzyme substitution, we found it of interest to present our nationwide Danish experience. We focused on retinal vessel morphology and the relation to systemic morbidity.

Detailed Description

Fabry disease is a recessively inherited disorder due to systemic storage of abnormal metabolites (ceramide trihexocide, in particular) caused by lack of the lysosomal enzyme α-galactosidase. Though X-linked, in patient series there are often equal numbers of males (hemizygotes ) and females (heterozygotes, probably caused by a mutation in one allele and an inactivation on the other allele in the X chromosomes), and many clinical features are shared (Cox 2005).

Abnormal storage in endothelial and smooth muscle cells explains morbidity, including a shortened life expectancy (Frost & Tanaka 1966; Desnick et al. 1976; deVeber et al.1992; Hughes & Mehta 2005; Nguyen et al. 2005; Sodi et al. 2007). This is due to age dependent ischaemic manifestations that affect heart, kidney and brain. Angiofibroma is an early cutaneous manifestation, and painful acro-paresthesias express juvenile neuropathy (Cox 2005; Cleary et al. 2005).

Cornea verticillata is an almost obligate ophthalmic finding. The brown-yellow Bowman membrane related corneal deposits and teleangiectatic conjunctival vessels are early ophthalmic slit-lamp markers of the disorder; further there can be subtle lens opacities. Fundus vessel tortuosity is observed in many patients, in particular of the retinal venules, but best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is usually normal (Ballantyne & Michaelson 1970; Lou et al. 1970; Sher et al. 1979; Utsumi et al. 2009).

After the introduction of enzyme substitution therapy in 2001, ophthalmic examinations were scheduled as regular part of the general evaluation of the Fabry patients at Rigshospitalet, Denmark. A 10-year ophthalmic state of arts was part of oral presentations at a Copenhagen conference in December 2011. In contrast to the common occurrence of systemic vascular sequels, only one patient in the series had suffered severe visual loss; this was unilateral and occurred years before institution of the enzyme therapy (Andersen et al. 1994). In 2013, however, another young male presented a similar retinal event. Sporadic cases of visual loss are reported in the literature (Sher et al. 1978,1979; Tuupurainen et al. 1981; Sakkuraba et al. 1986; Utsumi et al. 2009), but in larger Fabry series ocular vascular catastrophes appear the exception to the rule (Orssaud et al. 2003; Hughes & Mehta 2005; Nguyen et al. 2005; Sodi et al. 2007; Utsumi et al. 2009)).

Following the introduction of enzyme substitution, we found it of interest to present our nationwide Danish experience. We focused on retinal vessel morphology and the relation to systemic morbidity.

Conditions

Fabry Disease

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Fabry patients during treatment

39 patients with Fabry disease having had baseline examinations of the eyes were assessed also at follow-up 10 years after enzyme replacement therapy

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Enzyme replacement

Intervention Type: DRUG

Observational study of current treatment and with no comparative groups

Interventions

Enzyme replacement

Observational study of current treatment and with no comparative groups

Intervention Type: DRUG

Other Intervention Names

Replagal; Fabrazyme

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• All Danish patients with Fabry disease before starting therapy

Exclusion Criteria

• Missing values for eye examination at baseline or follow-up

• Minimum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Rigshospitalet, Denmark

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen

Professor, chief physician

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen, MD, DMSc

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Rigshospitalet, Denmark

Locations

Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen

Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark

National University Hospital, Department of Medical Endocrinology

Copenhagen, , Denmark

Countries

Denmark

Other Identifiers

RH-F-2013

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

Fabry-Eyes-13

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id