New research targets diabetics' vision problems

Early recognition of diabetic retinopathy can lead to more effective treatment.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Oct. 9, 2006.

Washington -- If there weren't already enough good reasons for tight glucose control among diabetic patients, lowering the risk of blindness provides another.

Diabetic retinopathy, a long-recognized complication of both type 1 and 2 diabetes, is a leading cause of blindness. It results from damage incurred by blood vessels in the retina and is the target of new research conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network, a 4-year-old collaborative venture designed to bring promising treatments to patients as quickly as possible.

Concern is growing that this diabetes complication is likely to be seen more frequently as the collective expansion in the nation's waistline is expected to lead to an increase in the number of people with diabetes, said a network researcher who spoke at a Sept. 19 Capitol Hill briefing.

Thomas W. Gardner, MD, a professor of ophthalmology, cellular and molecular physiology at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, described diabetic retinopathy as trying to look at something with a thumb over your eye -- a problem similar to that faced by people with macular degeneration.

The briefing was sponsored by the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research with the American Diabetes Assn. and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

Research already has brought about many treatment gains for this eye disorder, Dr. Gardner said. Lasers have been employed effectively to prevent additional vision loss, as have vitrectomies to remove the leaked blood that often blocks vision.