Author Interviews, Diabetes, Ophthalmology / 20.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thulasiraj Ravilla Executive Director – LAICO & Director – Opeations Aravind Eye Care System Tamilnadu, India  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a visual consequence of diabetes and various other studies have reported that in India, 10% to 30% of adults with diabetes have DR, with higher rates found in older people and urban areas. Undetected DR leads to vision loss and eventually blindness. Thus early identification of DR is critical to initiate appropriate treatment to reduce the rate of vision loss. Conventional approaches of requesting diabetologists to refer patients with diabetes to an ophthalmologist has been ineffective due to compliance issues, both by the diabetologists and the patients. Similarly screening through outreach eye camps have not been found to be effective in India and other developing countries owing to inadequate eye care resources. Teleretinal screening for Diabetic Retinopathy is increasingly being used in India. Evidence from randomized clinical trials on the benefits of teleretinal screening is limited. Whatever evidence is there are from high income countries, which often have little relevance to developing countries. (more…)
JAMA, Ophthalmology / 11.08.2014

Helen A. Mintz-Hittner, M.D., F.A.C.S. Alfred W. Lasher, III, Professor of Ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-Medical School Cizik Eye ClinicMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Helen A. Mintz-Hittner, M.D., F.A.C.S. Alfred W. Lasher, III, Professor of Ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-Medical School Cizik Eye Clinic Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mintz-Hittner:
  • For retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), at age 2 ½ years, intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections cause less myopia (nearsightedness) in diopters (D) compared to conventional laser therapy (CLT):f
  • or Zone I: -1.51 D versus -8.44 D (7 diopters difference: p = 0.001. for Posterior Zone II: -0.58 D versus -5.83 D (5 diopters difference: p = 0.001.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Ophthalmology / 06.04.2014

Massimo Porta, MD PhD Professor of Medicine Head, Unit of Internal Medicine 1 Department of Medical Sciences University of TurinMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Massimo Porta, MD PhD Professor of Medicine Head, Unit of Internal Medicine 1 Department of Medical Sciences  University of Turin MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Porta: Type 2 diabetes has a slow, insidious onset and may remain undiagnosed for several years, during which complications may arise and progress. As a result, many patients already have retinopathy at the time a clinical diagnosis is finally made. Previous attempts at estimating the duration of this period of "hidden" diabetes relied upon  extrapolations of a linear correlation between known duration of diabetes and prevalence of retinopathy. This led to overestimates, because: a) the best fitting correlation may not be linear, b) series included insulin treated patients, who might have late-onset type 1 diabetes, c) patients with any mild retinopathy were included whereas we now know that up to 10% of non diabetic individuals may have minimal retinal signs. By taking these variables into account, ie including only patients not on insulin and with moderate or more severe retinopathy and applying different mathematical models, we ended up with an estimated duration preceding diagnosis of type 2 diabetes of 4-6 years, against longer than 13 years using "standard" criteria. (more…)