Vision Loss News and Research

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Wearable collision warning device may help patients with peripheral vision loss

People who have lost some of their peripheral vision, such as those with retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, or brain injury that causes half visual field loss, often face mobility challenges and increased likelihood of falls and collisions.

30 Mar 2015

Oraya's IRay Radiotherapy system gets CE Mark to treat choroidal metastases

Oraya Therapeutics announced today that the Oraya IRay® Radiotherapy system has received a CE Mark extension for the treatment of choroidal metastases, a cancer in the eye, originating most commonly from primary sites in the breast or lung.

6 Mar 2015

Johns Hopkins researcher helps discover effectiveness of three drugs for treating patients with DME

A researcher from Johns Hopkins Medicine helped lead colleagues from across the country in a government-sponsored study by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network to discover that three drugs -- Eylea, Avastin and Lucentis -- used to treat diabetic macular edema are all effective. They also discovered that Eylea outperformed the other two drugs when vision loss was moderate to severe.

23 Feb 2015

UW ophthalmology researchers help show effectiveness of three drugs for treating DME

An ophthalmology research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison took part in a nationwide clinical trial comparing treatments for a form of diabetic eye disease. The study found that three commonly used drugs perform much the same for those with mild vision problems, but one medication performed better for those with more serious vision loss.

23 Feb 2015

IUPUI's Jason Meyer awarded $1.8 million NIH grant to explore how glaucoma develops in stem cells

Jason Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has received a National Institutes of Health grant to study how glaucoma develops in stem cells created from skin cells genetically predisposed to the disease.

20 Feb 2015

Clinical study comparing effectiveness of three standard treatments for DME published in NEJM

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that results from the National Institutes of Health-sponsored, Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network comparative effectiveness study in patients with Diabetic Macular Edema (Protocol T) were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and a corresponding slide set was posted online at DRCR.net.

20 Feb 2015

Ranibizumab drug reverses diabetes-related blindness

Ranibizumab, a prescription drug commonly used to treat age-related vision loss, also reverses vision loss caused by diabetes among Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, according to a new study led by investigators from the University of Southern California Eye Institute.

19 Feb 2015

New discovery could lead to potential treatment for preventing blindness

Scientists have made a major new discovery detailing how areas of the brain responsible for vision could potentially adapt to injury or trauma and ultimately prevent blindness.

18 Feb 2015

‘Earliest’ characteristics presaging drusen-associated atrophy identified

Researchers have used spectral-domain optical coherence tomography to identify specific pathological changes that precede the development of drusen-associated atrophy in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

13 Feb 2015

Understanding the pattern of cellular changes that lead to retinal ganglion cell death in glaucoma

Glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, usually stems from elevated eye pressure, which in turn damages and destroys specialized neurons in the eye known as retinal ganglion cells. To better understand these cellular changes and how they influence the progression and severity of glaucoma, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute turned to a mouse model of the disease.

12 Feb 2015

NYEE ophthalmologists offer prevention tips to observe AMD Awareness Month

Macular degeneration is a major cause of irreversible vision loss in the United States and around the world. As many as 11 million Americans have some form of macular degeneration.

9 Feb 2015

New study links cell communication pathway to common brain tumors found in children

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers links a well-known cell communication pathway called Notch to one of the most common -- but overall still rare -- brain tumors found in children.

6 Feb 2015

EyePromise® eye vitamins offers education guide to promote awareness on AMD

Due to the aging Baby Boomer population, AMD, or Age-related Macular Degeneration, is expected to double by the year 2020.

4 Feb 2015

Tackling preventable blindness: a House of Commons reception review

“Macular degeneration is not life threatening, but it is life changing,” these were the words of Michael Valenzia, of the Macular Society at the recent House of Commons Reception held by AMD Alliance International.

27 Jan 2015

Penn, Spark Therapeutics expand strategic relationship to develop treatment for progressive blindness

The University of Pennsylvania has announced an expanded relationship with Spark Therapeutics, a late-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for debilitating, genetic diseases.

21 Jan 2015

Researchers reveal key factor in understanding elevated cancer risk linked to gene therapy

National Institutes of Health researchers have uncovered a key factor in understanding the elevated cancer risk associated with gene therapy. They conducted research on mice with a rare disease similar to one in humans, hoping their findings may eventually help improve gene therapy for humans. Researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of NIH, published their research in the Jan. 20, 2015, online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

21 Jan 2015

Tiny lumps of calcium phosphate may trigger age-related macular degeneration

New research from scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found that tiny lumps of calcium phosphate may be an important triggering factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a degenerative eye disease that can cause severe vision loss and blindness.

20 Jan 2015

Genetic finding could lead to new treatments for people living with blindness, vision loss

Finding genes for retinal degenerations has immediate benefits for people living with blindness and vision loss, their families, and their physicians. Establishing a genetic cause confirms the clinical diagnosis at the molecular level, helps predict the future visual prognosis, suggests therapies, and allows some patients to join clinical trials. While more than 200 genes for retinal degenerations have been identified, approximately 40-50% of cases remain a mystery.

13 Jan 2015

Glaucoma Awareness Month: Mount Sinai ophthalmologists offer tips for glaucoma prevention

Glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to the World Health Organization. To observe Glaucoma Awareness Month, ophthalmologists at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System are offering tips for prevention and early detection of the condition.

7 Jan 2015

Chronic hypertension increases glaucoma risk

A new study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science has found that chronic (long term) hypertension increases a person's susceptibility to glaucoma. These results suggest that doctors should consider a patient's blood pressure levels in managing the potentially blinding eye disorder.

6 Jan 2015