Surgery, Cancer Drug Curb Glaucoma
A new treatment combining an anti-cancer drug with surgery is halting blinding glaucoma in patients for whom no other treatment has worked, Northwestern University researchers are learning.
The new therapy is particularly beneficial in blacks, diabetics and others who tend to experience complications following conventional surgery, said Dr. David Welch, an ophthalmologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
"The results are not miraculous, but they are marvelous," said Welch, who with colleagues published a paper on the technique - originally developed at the University of Miami (Fla.) - in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
They found that one year after the combination treatment, glaucoma was arrested in 12 of 14 patients. In contrast, surgery alone was successful in only three of 12 such patients. Welch said the cancer drug caused no side effects. Although eye doctors know about the new treatment, many glaucoma patients don't, he said. There are thousands of people in the US who would benefit from this new treatment. They may have lost hope, but they can still be helped. Newer Glaucoma Treatments Glaucoma is an eye disease in which excessive amounts of fluid build up in the eyeball because of a drainage problem. If the pressure is not released, blood flow is impaired and nerve tissue is damaged, causing blindness starting with peripheral vision and moving on to central vision, said Welch. Though glaucoma damage is irreversible, glaucoma can be treated successfully in about 90 percent of cases with pressure-lowering medications. If drugs don't do the job, scalpel or laser surgery is performed to make a small drainage hole in the eye. But for some patients, surgery can only make things worse because in about one in four of these patients, scar tissue plugs the drain. Blacks, diabetics, young people and individuals who have had previous eye surgery are prone to this complication. University of Miami researchers developed a treatment especially for them. Miami doctors theorized that a medication used to stop cancer cell growth also might prevent the formation of scar tissue. They demonstrated this was true by combining surgery with the drug, 5-Fluorouracil, known as 5-FU, which interferes with the growth of cancer cells by attacking the cells' genetic mechanism. Drug Therapy and Eye Surgery They demonstrated this was true by combining surgery with the drug, 5-Fluorouracil, known as 5-FU, which interferes with the growth of cancer cells by attacking the cells' genetic mechanism. Authrine Whyte is one of the treatment's success stories. When she was a high school senior in Jamaica, her peripheral sight started to fail. "My vision was blurry after waking up in the morning," she said. "It was like trying to see in a thick fog. I couldn't read to study for exams." Conventional treatments with drugs and lasers didn't stop the disease. Whyte's mother, who was living in Chicago, got the girl to see Welch. Whyte, a chemistry major at Illinois State University, said, "I'm not going blind anymore," she said. "Right now, I'm thinking of going to medical school."
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