NEI Research News

The National Eye Institute reported today that current treatments for a common, sight-threatening complication of diabetes have proved 95 percent effective in maintaining vision, but 8,000 still go blind each year from this disease.

Researchers report that donor-recipient tissue typing had no significant long-term effect on the success of corneal transplantation in a nationwide clinical study of over 400 patients at high risk for rejection.

Although commonly used, oral corticosteroids alone are ineffective in treating optic neuritis, a debilitating inflammation of the optic nerve, and actually increase a person’s risk for future attacks.

Results from a large, multicenter clinical trial show that patients with AIDS treated for cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis

Results from two years of patient followup in a randomized clinical trial suggest that argon laser therapy may be a safe and effective alternative to eyedrops as a first treatment for patients with newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma.

Louis W. Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services, has announced results of a clinical trial demonstrating a 50 percent improvement in surgical control of glaucoma in patients at high risk for blindness.

New findings from a nationwide clinical trial supported by theNational Eye Institute (NEI) provide further evidence that laser treatment is highly effective in preventing visual loss from diabetic eye disease.

Briefly freezing a portion of the eye’s surface can protect many premature infants against blindness from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a disease that causes visual loss in 2,600 infants in the United States annually.

New evidence from a nationwide study shows that treatment for some powerful beams of light can substantially reduce the risk of blindness for some people with severe eye disease caused by diabetes.