by:Jen Blackstock
When most people think of diabetes, the first thing to come to mind is rarely blindness, yet blindness is a very real complication of diabetes: Diabetes is actually the number one cause of new blindness in the United States.
Diabetic retinopathy happens when diabetes damages the tiny blood vessels inside the retina, which therefore stop feeding the retina properly, according to the American Foundation for the Blind. Symptoms can include blurry or double vision; rings, flashing lights or blank spots; dark or floating spots; pain or pressure in one or both of your eyes; and trouble seeing things out of the corners of your eyes. Forty percent of people with diabetes have some form of diabetic retinopathy.
With the rise in the number of people with diabetes and the aging American population, it is no surprise that the number of older Americans undergoing treatment for retinal conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy increased 192 percent between 1997 and 2007. Additionally, there has been a significant shift in the types of procedures being performed, a new study has found.
Age-related macular degeneration is a progressive disease of the retina that causes the loss of central vision. Both age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can cause vision loss and blindness.
The study analyzed Medicare data from 1997 to 2007 and found that the number of retinal procedures increased 192 percent during that period. The largest year-to-year increase (20 percent) occurred between 2006 and 2007, according to the study published in the October issue of the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.
In terms of actual procedures performed, the largest increase was in treatments for neovascular, or "wet," AMD. New treatments for this condition include intravitreal therapy, or drug injections directly into the eye, of antibodies that block the formation of new blood vessels. From 1997 to 2001, only 5,000 of these procedures were performed each year. By 2007, the number had jumped to 812,413. Also increasing is the use of vitrectomy, a surgery to remove the gel inside the eye in order to treat retinal detachment -- increased 72 percent between 1997 and 2007.
"Retinal disease is highly prevalent among older individuals, and both age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy account for more than half the irreversible blindness in older Americans. The prevalence of both macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy increases with age, and the number of Americans affected by these conditions is expected to increase substantially as the number of Americans older than 65 years doubles from 2010 to 2040," says study author Dr. Pradeep Ramulu, of Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
With the rise of cases of diabetes and the aging of the baby boomer population in the United States, eye care and blindness prevention is becoming increasingly important within the medical community.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
New Techology Detects Retinal Disease
by Martha L. Hernández
McALLEN — For years, the only way for doctors into the back of the eye for a retina inspection involved special eye drops, which dilated the patient’s pupils and required the wearing of dark glasses for hours after the exam.
Now, scientists have developed the Optomap Retinal Exam, which eliminates the need for drop. Patients only see a quick, green flash of light.
“This test is a non-invasive way of doing it. We don’t put drops in your eyes, we just take a picture of the back of your eye and under 25 seconds (later), it gives us a 3D image. We can review the image with you on the computer (immediately after),” said Dr. Fiona Kolia, a therapeutic optometrist at Astoria Vision Source.
“We can look at it with different filters. This test is very important because it allows us to tell you about the health not only of your eye — where we can detect (diseases like) glaucoma (or) macular degeneration, any holes or tears, anything that is in the eye that shouldn’t be there — it also tells us about the health of your body,” Kolia said.
The new technology has detected other medical conditions in people seeking glasses or contacts.
“For example, a young person, healthy, walked in and he had a hemorrhage in his eye that is caused by high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a silent killer, you refer them (to their family doctor) and they can start to get treated and take care of themselves,” Kolia said. Undetected high blood pressure can lead to strokes and other serious complications, Kolia noted.
“Sometimes we are the first to detect if the people have signs of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, any arteriosclerosis in the eye and we refer them to their family physician” Kolia said.
Kolia is the only optometrist south of Corpus Christi that has an Optomap.
“Sometimes people just don’t see well and they might think it’s just their glasses” Kolia said. “There was a gentleman that had a macular degeneration that needed to be treated … but sometime in younger people (that) kind of problem happens due to high stress and the macular area (center of the eye) can become swollen and you can lose your central vision (if you do not treat it),” Kolia said.
“What we hope to do is be able to screen a lot of people, I think that in this area it is very important for diabetics. We want to it as a tool and make people aware that an eye exam not only involves getting you a better pair of glasses, it involves looking at the interior structures of the eye and behind the eye,” which can aid in the detection of numerous health issues, Kolia said.
Insurance companies do not typically cover treatment with an Optomap. If there is a definite medical diagnosis it may be billed as a retinal photo in some instances with some insurance plans. Patients without insurance pay $37 for the test.
“In a lot of people who are nearsighted, the eyeball elongates, so it is important to look behind the eye because they can develop a retinal detachment,” Kolia said.
Kolia said the Optomap likely would be added to the regular battery of tests conducted by optometrists and ophthalmologists during routine eye exams as the technology comes into more widespread use.
McALLEN — For years, the only way for doctors into the back of the eye for a retina inspection involved special eye drops, which dilated the patient’s pupils and required the wearing of dark glasses for hours after the exam.
Now, scientists have developed the Optomap Retinal Exam, which eliminates the need for drop. Patients only see a quick, green flash of light.
“This test is a non-invasive way of doing it. We don’t put drops in your eyes, we just take a picture of the back of your eye and under 25 seconds (later), it gives us a 3D image. We can review the image with you on the computer (immediately after),” said Dr. Fiona Kolia, a therapeutic optometrist at Astoria Vision Source.
“We can look at it with different filters. This test is very important because it allows us to tell you about the health not only of your eye — where we can detect (diseases like) glaucoma (or) macular degeneration, any holes or tears, anything that is in the eye that shouldn’t be there — it also tells us about the health of your body,” Kolia said.
The new technology has detected other medical conditions in people seeking glasses or contacts.
“For example, a young person, healthy, walked in and he had a hemorrhage in his eye that is caused by high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a silent killer, you refer them (to their family doctor) and they can start to get treated and take care of themselves,” Kolia said. Undetected high blood pressure can lead to strokes and other serious complications, Kolia noted.
“Sometimes we are the first to detect if the people have signs of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, any arteriosclerosis in the eye and we refer them to their family physician” Kolia said.
Kolia is the only optometrist south of Corpus Christi that has an Optomap.
“Sometimes people just don’t see well and they might think it’s just their glasses” Kolia said. “There was a gentleman that had a macular degeneration that needed to be treated … but sometime in younger people (that) kind of problem happens due to high stress and the macular area (center of the eye) can become swollen and you can lose your central vision (if you do not treat it),” Kolia said.
“What we hope to do is be able to screen a lot of people, I think that in this area it is very important for diabetics. We want to it as a tool and make people aware that an eye exam not only involves getting you a better pair of glasses, it involves looking at the interior structures of the eye and behind the eye,” which can aid in the detection of numerous health issues, Kolia said.
Insurance companies do not typically cover treatment with an Optomap. If there is a definite medical diagnosis it may be billed as a retinal photo in some instances with some insurance plans. Patients without insurance pay $37 for the test.
“In a lot of people who are nearsighted, the eyeball elongates, so it is important to look behind the eye because they can develop a retinal detachment,” Kolia said.
Kolia said the Optomap likely would be added to the regular battery of tests conducted by optometrists and ophthalmologists during routine eye exams as the technology comes into more widespread use.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Limited Retinal Translocation for Wet Macular Degeneration
Posted by Administration
Limited Retinal Translocation-Limited retinal translocation is another treatment aimed at wet macular degeneration. In this procedure the retina is actually moved somewhat to allow laser treatments to be applied more successfully to abnormal blood vessel growth. The procedure is still in the macular degeneration treatments developmental stages in terms of approval for commercial applications. Surgical options for dry macular degeneration are proposed periodically. The methodologies change from procedure to procedure, but the general idea is the same.
Limited Retinal Translocation-Limited retinal translocation is another treatment aimed at wet macular degeneration. In this procedure the retina is actually moved somewhat to allow laser treatments to be applied more successfully to abnormal blood vessel growth. The procedure is still in the macular degeneration treatments developmental stages in terms of approval for commercial applications. Surgical options for dry macular degeneration are proposed periodically. The methodologies change from procedure to procedure, but the general idea is the same.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Eye Implant breakthrough
By Andrew Hough
Eye implant breakthrough: scientific advances towards a blindness cures
An eye test is the only way to diagnose glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness in Britain.
* Stem cells grown on contact lenses could be a cure for a common cause of blindness, claim scientists. Australian researchers said that the world breakthrough could "dramatically improve" the sight of patients with damage to their cornea – the clear outer shell of the eye – caused by disease or injury.
The research team removed tissue with regenerative stem cells from patients' own eyes and then multiplied them in the laboratory on the surface of a contact lens. This was then placed back onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells, which can turn into any other sort of cell, were able to recolonise and "patch" the damaged eye surface. Within weeks the patients saw dramatic improvements in their vision. If early findings bear out then the treatment could be affective for thousands of patients in Britain and is so cheap it could be used for millions more in the Third World.
* Artificial corneas grown in the laboratory were transplanted into patient's eyes for the first time in an operation, scientists reported. The new technique involved growing human tissue or collagen in the laboratory and then shaping it using a contact lens mould.
Damaged and scarred tissue from the front of the eye is then removed and the "biosynthetic" replacement is stitched in its place. Eventually existing cells and nerves in the eye grow over the artificial cornea incorporating it fully into the eye.
* Eye cells that are sensitive to light were produced from skin in a breakthrough that could eventually lead to treatments for blindness, scientists reported in August. Researchers genetically “reprogrammed” human skin cells to possess the same properties as those that make up the retina.
The process involved first turning them into pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, which have the potential to develop into virtually every kind of tissue in the body. By exposing the IPS cells to a specific cocktail of chemicals, the scientists then caused them to grow into partially developed retina cells – the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye which transmit nerve signals to the brain.
* Patients who were left blinded after chemical accidents have had their sight restored using corneas grown from their own stem cells, scientists claimed in June. In the largest study of its kind, Italian researchers said they restored the sight of patients left blinded or suffered severely impaired vision, after suffering chemical burns.
Experts said the study, undertaken between 1998 and 2007, offers new hope to the thousands of people who suffer chemical burns on their corneas from heavy-duty cleansers or other substances at work or at home. The research is also being hailed as a key breakthrough in scientific regeneration that could give hope to other patients with otherwise irreversible eyesight.
* Also in June, a new study suggested a simple way to stop you eyesight deterioriating - drinking red wine. Researchers have found that a substance found in grapes and other fruits could protect blood vessels in the eye being damaged by old age. It is effective because the compound, known as resveratrol, stops the blood vessels from being damaged.
The substance, which has been linked to anti-ageing and cancer protection in the past, is believed to work because it protects against abnormal angiogenesis – the formation of damaged or mutated blood vessels. This condition is linked to cancer, heart disease and eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. In the study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers successfully extracted adult stem cells from healthy eye tissue before growing additional stem cells that were placed over damaged eye tissue.
* Gene therapy was used by American scientists to improve the vision of children with hereditary blindness. US doctors treating 12 patients with a rare genetic eye disorder were able to significantly improve vision in the youngest, according to medical journal The Lancet. The research, which builds on work carried out by doctors at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, focused on Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA), a disorder which causes gradual deterioration in vision and can lead to blindness by the time the patient is 20. It occurs when faulty genes, called RPE65, stop the layer of cells at the back of the eye working and affects approximately one in 80,000 people. It is responsible for one in 10 severe sight disorders in children.
* Scientists cured colour blindness in monkeys, in what some were signalling has new hope for millions of sufferers of the condition. Researchers reported last September that they cured the animals using a treatment called gene therapy. A harmless virus which delivers corrective genes to the retina was injected into the eyes of two squirrel monkeys, Dalton and Sam, who had been colour blind since birth. Within weeks a protein produced by the corrective genes allowed both monkeys to make out reds and greens for the first time. They can still see the colours two years later. The breakthrough could also have implications for other damaging genetic eye defects, including those which can cause blindness, after researchers proved for the first time that the brain can “rewire” itself to see things it has never been able to before.
* A new eye drop treatment was offered to help preserve the sight of thousands of people at risk of going blind due to glaucoma, scientists reported. The drops were first of their kind that avoid unpleasant side effects which deter up to a third of patients from continuing their treatment.
Many patients simply refuse to apply the drops because of the discomfort, thereby putting themselves at risk of vision loss. Regular use of the eye drops can keep the condition under control for a patient's life time. Without them, a patient can go blind in five to 10 years. When the disease becomes too advanced the only remedy is surgery, which is risky and may itself result in blindness.
Eye implant breakthrough: scientific advances towards a blindness cures
An eye test is the only way to diagnose glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness in Britain.
* Stem cells grown on contact lenses could be a cure for a common cause of blindness, claim scientists. Australian researchers said that the world breakthrough could "dramatically improve" the sight of patients with damage to their cornea – the clear outer shell of the eye – caused by disease or injury.
The research team removed tissue with regenerative stem cells from patients' own eyes and then multiplied them in the laboratory on the surface of a contact lens. This was then placed back onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells, which can turn into any other sort of cell, were able to recolonise and "patch" the damaged eye surface. Within weeks the patients saw dramatic improvements in their vision. If early findings bear out then the treatment could be affective for thousands of patients in Britain and is so cheap it could be used for millions more in the Third World.
* Artificial corneas grown in the laboratory were transplanted into patient's eyes for the first time in an operation, scientists reported. The new technique involved growing human tissue or collagen in the laboratory and then shaping it using a contact lens mould.
Damaged and scarred tissue from the front of the eye is then removed and the "biosynthetic" replacement is stitched in its place. Eventually existing cells and nerves in the eye grow over the artificial cornea incorporating it fully into the eye.
* Eye cells that are sensitive to light were produced from skin in a breakthrough that could eventually lead to treatments for blindness, scientists reported in August. Researchers genetically “reprogrammed” human skin cells to possess the same properties as those that make up the retina.
The process involved first turning them into pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, which have the potential to develop into virtually every kind of tissue in the body. By exposing the IPS cells to a specific cocktail of chemicals, the scientists then caused them to grow into partially developed retina cells – the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye which transmit nerve signals to the brain.
* Patients who were left blinded after chemical accidents have had their sight restored using corneas grown from their own stem cells, scientists claimed in June. In the largest study of its kind, Italian researchers said they restored the sight of patients left blinded or suffered severely impaired vision, after suffering chemical burns.
Experts said the study, undertaken between 1998 and 2007, offers new hope to the thousands of people who suffer chemical burns on their corneas from heavy-duty cleansers or other substances at work or at home. The research is also being hailed as a key breakthrough in scientific regeneration that could give hope to other patients with otherwise irreversible eyesight.
* Also in June, a new study suggested a simple way to stop you eyesight deterioriating - drinking red wine. Researchers have found that a substance found in grapes and other fruits could protect blood vessels in the eye being damaged by old age. It is effective because the compound, known as resveratrol, stops the blood vessels from being damaged.
The substance, which has been linked to anti-ageing and cancer protection in the past, is believed to work because it protects against abnormal angiogenesis – the formation of damaged or mutated blood vessels. This condition is linked to cancer, heart disease and eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. In the study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers successfully extracted adult stem cells from healthy eye tissue before growing additional stem cells that were placed over damaged eye tissue.
* Gene therapy was used by American scientists to improve the vision of children with hereditary blindness. US doctors treating 12 patients with a rare genetic eye disorder were able to significantly improve vision in the youngest, according to medical journal The Lancet. The research, which builds on work carried out by doctors at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, focused on Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA), a disorder which causes gradual deterioration in vision and can lead to blindness by the time the patient is 20. It occurs when faulty genes, called RPE65, stop the layer of cells at the back of the eye working and affects approximately one in 80,000 people. It is responsible for one in 10 severe sight disorders in children.
* Scientists cured colour blindness in monkeys, in what some were signalling has new hope for millions of sufferers of the condition. Researchers reported last September that they cured the animals using a treatment called gene therapy. A harmless virus which delivers corrective genes to the retina was injected into the eyes of two squirrel monkeys, Dalton and Sam, who had been colour blind since birth. Within weeks a protein produced by the corrective genes allowed both monkeys to make out reds and greens for the first time. They can still see the colours two years later. The breakthrough could also have implications for other damaging genetic eye defects, including those which can cause blindness, after researchers proved for the first time that the brain can “rewire” itself to see things it has never been able to before.
* A new eye drop treatment was offered to help preserve the sight of thousands of people at risk of going blind due to glaucoma, scientists reported. The drops were first of their kind that avoid unpleasant side effects which deter up to a third of patients from continuing their treatment.
Many patients simply refuse to apply the drops because of the discomfort, thereby putting themselves at risk of vision loss. Regular use of the eye drops can keep the condition under control for a patient's life time. Without them, a patient can go blind in five to 10 years. When the disease becomes too advanced the only remedy is surgery, which is risky and may itself result in blindness.
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