Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0086543 (cataract)
 29,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Of the 38 million people who are blind, the majority, 22 million, are 60 years of age or older. The most common causes of vision loss in elderly people are age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Of these, AMD is the leading cause of registered blindness in people over the age of 50 years in the western world. However, until recently, the treatment options for people with AMD have been severely limited. Verteporfin therapy is a new treatment that is efficacious and safe in selected patients with AMD who are at high risk of central vision loss. Physicians who are in regular contact with elderly people can help to minimize vision loss in this group of patients by being alert to the symptoms and signs of age-related eye diseases. This paper reviews each of the common eye diseases, with an emphasis on AMD because of the recent advances in treatment.
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PMID:Common eye diseases of elderly people: identifying and treating causes of vision loss. 1245 44

Evidence from randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked studies has demonstrated that verteporfin (Visudyne) therapy is effective in reducing the risk of visual acuity loss in selected groups of patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Pilot studies of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide monotherapy revealed promising results in patients with CNV due to AMD, but the visual acuity outcomes in a randomized, controlled study were lower than anticipated. Recently, however, there has been growing interest in the adjunctive use of triamcinolone to improve visual acuity and reduce regrowth of CNV in patients receiving verteporfin therapy. This review article surveys the currently available evidence, based on a Medline search covering the years 1980-2005 and abstracts from recent scientific meetings. A number of small-scale, uncontrolled pilot studies have indicated that the combination of triamcinolone acetonide with verteporfin therapy may be beneficial. Evidence is now needed from randomized, controlled studies to determine whether the potential benefits of combination therapy outweigh the possible risks of increased intraocular pressure, endophthalmitis, and progression of cataract that have been observed in trials of triamcinolone monotherapy.
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PMID:Verteporfin therapy in combination with triamcinolone: published studies investigating a potential synergistic effect. 1596 70