Saturday, August 27, 2016

DARC technology: Throwing light on glaucoma


Glaucoma is a multi-factorial neurodegenerative disorder.
It is characterized by loss of retinal ganglion cells and the axons running to the brain.
Cellular demise in glaucoma is detected late by structural or functional analyses, such as optical coherence tomography or visual field analysis.
There can be a 10-year delay prior to the appearance of visual field defects and pre-perimetric glaucoma is an issue still being addressed. 
However, a new cutting-edge technology called Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells (DARC) is being developed to overcome this shortcoming in diagnosis. 
This technique is capable of non-invasive, real-time visualization of apoptotic changes at the cellular level. 
The following article on DARC is appearing in the Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology. 



Saturday, August 20, 2016

TAFLOTAN (TAFLUPROST 0.0015%) LAUNCH IN KOTA KINABALU 

Santen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Japan, launched their new prostaglandin analogue, Taflotan, in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia on 20th August 2016. The launch was accompanied by a talk by Dr Hoh Sek Tien from Mount Novena & Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore. 



Thursday, August 4, 2016

CONTROVERSIES IN THE VASCULAR MECHANISMS OF GOND


Research on a micro- and macro-level is being performed in institutions across the globe, all targeting glaucoma in some way. But despite quantum leaps in our understanding of this disease, management of glaucoma still flounders around a perfect way to just control intra-ocular pressure. That is the ONLY controllable risk factor identified after millions of dollars spent on research and development.

At this moment in time, the 2 pertinent QUESTIONS which every person probably wants to ask are:
1.       Why does glaucoma occur? (MECHANISMS)
2.       Where can we find a treatment to stop visual deterioration or better still, to recover visual loss? (NEUROPROTECTION and NEUROREGENERATION)
Unfortunately, we are still unable to answer even these 2 questions. My interest in glaucoma revolves around these 2 questions. I want to know why glaucoma occurs and is there any way to stop its damaging effects? Saying that multifactorial mechanisms are at work is just an easy way out to escape our responsibility in delving deeper into the etiology and mechanisms of glaucoma causation. A parent who loses a young son or daughter in a car accident cannot be soothed by an explanation that the car was driven at 200mph, it was raining, the driver was distracted by a phone call and the road was poorly lit. The parent wants to know what could have been done to avoid this accident and what steps are being taken to prevent such accidents in the future. Glaucoma is a similar situation for patients who suffer from this cruel disease. What answer do we have for patients who come with advanced disease, hoping for their problems to be solved by a simple drug or operation? 

A few years back I searched into the biochemical mechanisms of glaucoma. It was such a painful conclusion to know that there are possibly hundreds of mediators of glaucomatous optic nerve degeneration (GOND) in our bodies and the environment. How will we ever tackle all of them?

Now, I tried to look into the vascular mechanisms. The result is equally distressing. I feel a bitter anguish that we still do not have enough solid evidence to introduce this aspect of the disease in our management protocols. Calcium channel blockers are being explored in certain groups of patients but the results are still inconclusive.

I hope this article of mine will stimulate researchers into working on the vascular mechanisms of GOND and one day down the line we might be able to really control glaucoma.

MENTAL HEALTH AND GLAUCOMA

  Memory and cognitive impairment, as well as other mental health problems (e.g., depression and anxiety) are conditions which could signifi...