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Research on diabetic retinopathy has improved outcomes
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NEW YORK — Advances in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy have improved outcomes for patients, but the era of anti-VEGF therapy may offer even greater promise for future therapy.
Research in the past 2 decades has unveiled important understanding of the mechanisms and biochemical pathways underlying the ocular manifestations of diabetes, Lloyd Paul Aiello, MD, PhD, said here at Retina Congress 2009 during the Paul Henkind Memorial Lecture, which is sponsored by the Macula Society. For ocular complications of diabetes mellitus, laser therapy has proven a major boon to treatment, he said.
"Laser may be significantly more effective that we thought," Dr. Aiello said.
Because of potentially degenerative effects of laser therapy, research in the field of diabetic retinopathy has focused on alternative medical management of the disease. Most recently, Dr. Aiello said, studies have looked at corticosteroid therapy with triamcinolone.
But, Dr. Aiello said, analysis of comparative trials have shown that while triamcinolone shows a greater benefit at 4 months, the modalities are roughly equal at 12 months, and over time, laser therapy yields superior visual outcomes.
Ongoing research will look at the potential for combined therapy, Dr. Aiello said. Meanwhile, studies on anti-VEGF therapy are intriguing.
"If VEGF proves to be better than laser therapy, we may have a new gold standard therapy," Dr. Aiello said.