AMD Patients can benefit from cataract surgery and steroidsAccording to a study reported by this month’s Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) for evaluating benefits of cataract surgery for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) at all stages of the disease, the steroid triamcinolone could prove beneficial for advanced diabetic macular edema (DME) patients when standard treatment fails to deliver any results.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Earlier epidemiology had suggested cataract surgery might worsen AMD, so the data from the AREDS cohort study were evaluated to answer this important question,” said Emily Y. Chew, MD, who led the study for NEI.

The cohort, comprising 1,939 eyes (1,244 patients) with various stages of AMD, was evaluated for visual acuity (sharpness) after cataract surgery. On average, patients with AMD, ranging from mild to advanced, gained visual acuity after cataract surgery; the best gains were in patients with vision worse than20/40 before surgery. No difference in improvement was noted between patients with “wet” (neovascular) or “dry” (central geographic atrophy) AMD. About one year later vision gains remained statistically significant in the 865 eyes available for follow-up. Results for the primary focus of AREDS, regarding the effect of nutritional supplements, showed that high doses of vitamins C, E and beta-carotene did not affect the development or progression of cataract, but this vitamin combination plus zinc did reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD by 25 percent in the five years of the study.

It is considered that these findings will help scientists, all over the globe, to fight against cataract. It is believed that cataract affects more than 80,000 patients in the United States alone and this study will help both the involved doctors and their patients to get relief to a considerable extent.




Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted in Steroid Cycles, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, buy steroids, steroid nation