La Fe hospital in Valencia on the Costa Azahar is doing some pioneering work in the field of blindness brought on by diabetes.
A ten minute outpatient procedure is taking the place of complicated retinal surgery to correct refractory macular oedema.The technique and the results from this technique has just been published is specialist magazines like the American Journal of Ocular Pharmocology and Therapeutics.It has attracted much interest from such places as the John Hopkins University.
It appears that the technique has already been used to trat 200 cases and is now being used to trat other retinal problems too.Refractory macular oedema is one of the main causes of vision problems of those with diabetes .It causes the central part of the retina to thicken and swell,distorting vision.To correct the problem the vitreous humour has to be detached from the back of the eye.
The new technique uses an enzyme ,plasmin,and they inject it directly into the eye where its qualities of breaking down proteins goes to work.The ophthamologists from La Fe hospital in Valencia will be presenting their findings at a conference in America .It is one of the most important conferences in the world of ophthamology.
