There has been a lot of excitement in management of retinal diseases, ever since the newer anti-VEGF injections have become available. These agents are being used for many eye diseases, especially for wet form of AMD (Age related Macular Degeneration), CNVM (Choroidal Neo Vascular Membrane), Severe Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Edema (swelling), Vascular Blocks, Neovascular Glaucoma (NVG), Vitreous Hemorrhage, etc. These retinal diseases, which were earlier considered incurable, or had very poor results with existing treatments are now being tackled with good results with these anti-VEGF agents.
VEGF is a short form for Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, which is responsible for growth of blood vessels. Besides having a role in normal vascular growth, VEGF is also responsible for many retinal diseases by causing new vessels growth and by increasing leakage and thus causing retinal swelling.
The anti-VEGF agents block the VEGF molecules and thus benefit the patients by decreasing the abnormal and harmful new blood vessels formation and by decreasing the leakage and swelling of the retina. This leads to stabilization of vision and even improvement in vision in many cases.
As of now, there are three injections available with us for treatment. These are Lucentis, Avastin and Macugen. These injections are given inside the eye. The procedure is a very small one, but is performed inside the operation theatre to maintain the strict asepsis. The patient is discharged within 10-15 minutes of the procedure, and can resume his/her normal activities immediately.
More than two thousand patients have benefited from these injections at our centre, many of them have had miraculous improvement in vision as well. We are using these injections in selected cases for the following conditions:
- Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
