NEW
TREATMENT
OPTIONS,
BETTER
HOPE OF
PREVENTING
VISION LOSS
FROM
DIABETES
There is some good news for people
with eye complications from diabetes.
Earlier this month, a network of
researchers supported by the National
Eye Institute (NEI) found that the drug
Lucentis (ranibizumab) can be highly
effective for treating proliferative
diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease
that can occur as a complication of
diabetes. The researchers, part of the
Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research
Network, say this is the first major
advance in therapy in 40 years. Diabetic
retinopathy is the leading cause of
vision loss and blindness among
working-age Americans. An advanced
stage, called proliferative diabetic
retinopathy, occurs when abnormal
blood vessels grow near the retina,
the light-sensitive tissue at the back
of the eye. These new vessels can leak
blood, which can obscure vision and
damage the retina. Lucentis is one of
several drugs called VEGF inhibitors
that can block this process.
34 Optical Prism | January 2016
In the new study, Lucentis was
compared to scatter laser therapy (or
panretinal photocoagulation), which
has been the standard treatment for
proliferative diabetic retinopathy
since the 1970s. Although laser therapy
is effective in improving central vision,
it can cause decreased night and side
vision. The study found that Lucentis
produced more improvement in central
vision and little change in side vision
when compared to laser therapy.
An injection into the eye might sound
scary, but it’s one of the most common
procedures performed by ophthalmologists. VEGF inhibitors have been used
for several years to treat diabetic
macular edema, a swelling of the retina
that can occur as blood leaks around
it. The new study suggests that VEGF
drugs may even help prevent macular
edema. Study participants who were
treated with Lucentis were less likely
to develop macular edema than those
treated with laser therapy.