Research

Research

Lasers Assist in Vision Treatment


	Phototherapy, medications, and other treatments are being tested for macular degeneration.

UW researchers are trying to improve a type of laser therapy for treating age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of partial blindness for people age 55 and older.

Macular degeneration, which affects more than 10 million Americans, comes in many varieties. In the most common form, abnormal blood vessels grow in the retina. The vessels eventually leak fluid and damage or destroy the retina.

Dr. David Saperstein, assistant professor of ophthalmology, researches different treatments for macular degeneration, including photodynamic therapy, gene therapy, and a drug called Macugen. All of the trials are aimed at treating complications from wet macular degeneration.

Rarely will patients with AMD go completely blind, and instead will usually retain some peripheral vision. AMD is disabling. Patients unable are to read, drive, or recognize familiar objects or people.

Treatment for AMD includes photodynamic therapy, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000. The therapy begins with an intravenous infusion of a dye that is taken up preferentially in the abnormal blood vessels under the retina. Then a low-level laser light is shone at these blood vessels 15 minutes after the infusion has begun.

The light-activated dye blocks the abnormal blood vessels, but does not damage the adjacent retina. More than one treatment may be required and may be repeated at three-month intervals.

Alongside efforts to improve photodynamic therapy, several drugs and other therapies are in various stages of development. Saperstein added that the National Eye Institute and many pharmaceutical houses are pushing to understand the origins of AMD and how to stop it from occurring.

Development Note

Several contributors share UW eye researchers' goal of preventing vision loss in the elderly. The estate of Edyth Henderson made a gift to macular degeneration research. Similarly, Helen Bucey created the Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Endowed Professorship in Ophthalmology. This year, her bequest provision augmented the fund and allowed UW Medicine to create an endowed chair. Endowed faculty support enhances research on protecting good vision and restoring damaged sight.