New Treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa


A new study shows that a drug delivery device that releases steroids into the eye can preserve the eyesight of people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. There is currently no cure for the condition, but researchers hope that this development could be used to treat the increasing number of people who develop retinitis pigmentosa. Researchers also now hope to counter vision loss caused by the degenerative eye disease.

Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited retinal disease that causes the structure of the eye to degenerate over time and leads to night blindness, loss of peripheral vision and, eventually, blindness. Retinitis pigmentosa affects the light sensitive tissue of the eye and eventually causes retinal cells to die off. The condition is thought to affect as many as one in every 3,000 people in the UK.

Researchers, led by Dr Paul Ashton, studied the affect of releasing steroid fluocinolone acetonide into the eye. The research team found that intravenous use of the steriod successfully reduced neuro-inflammation of the retina. Reducing inflammation of the retina in this way seemed to preserve the vision of surviving retinal cells. This in turn, seemed to halt the progression of the disease which ultimately leads to blindness.

Researchers now hope to further study the effects of using the drug delivery device to administer steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to the rear of the eye. It is hoped that this could lead to improved treatment of the condition that will improve the vision and quality of life of the many thousand retinitis pigmentosa sufferers in the UK.

9th April 2010

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