Lucentis beats lasers in treating diabetic retinopathy

A study funded by the National Eye Institute determined that Lucentis injections trumped laser therapy in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The study results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association online. 305 patients were included in the study with half of them receiving monthly Lucentis injections for three months and then only as-needed until the retinopathy was stabilized or resolved. Laser treatment was used on the other half of the patients. Almost half of the patients in that group had to have more than one round of treatment. The Lucentis group showed greater improvement in reading an eye chart after two years than the laser group patients. In addition, there was little change in the side vision of the Lucentis patients but the laser therapy patients had significant side vision loss. Researchers noted that these study results might warrant a change in the standard of care for the disease and that Lucentis should be considered a practical treatment option for the disease.*