In Touch

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In Touch: A Treatment for Two Eye Diseases; Tactile Breast Examinations

A Treatment for Two Eye Diseases; Tactile Breast Examinations

BBC Radio 4 - In Touch, A Treatment for Two Eye Diseases; Tactile Breast Examinations

News of a recently approved drug that is effective in treating two eye conditions.

Discovering Hands is a project in Germany that provides employment opportunities to visually impaired women, but is also potentially saving lives.

Faricimab, or as it is commercially known Vabysmo, is a drug that has recently been approved for use by the NHS to treat two eye diseases: diabetic macular oedema (DMO) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), with fewer injections. Both conditions result in vision loss caused by swelling behind the eye, which can now be slowed or halted by injections. Robin Hamilton is an Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital and he provides details of how this drug works and Bernie Warren tells us about its prospects from a DMO patient perspective. Bernie was also on a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence panel, that helped approve the drug for NHS use. 

Discovering Hands is a project in Germany that trains visually impaired women to perform breast examinations. The project involves using touch to locate early indications of breast cancer. Elvira Häußler is one of the women who is employed to perform them and she, along with gynaecologist Dr. Frank Hoffmann who came up with the idea, tell us more about it and whether it may one day come to the UK.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings	 
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole  
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

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In Touch

A Treatment for Two Eye Diseases; Tactile Breast Examinations

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