Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Login Register
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Login Register
  • MD Brand Connect
  • Vaccine Hub
  • MDTV
    • Breaking News
    • Medical News Today
    • Health News Today
    • Latest
    • Journal Club
    • Medico Legal Update
    • Latest Webinars
    • MD Shorts
    • Health Dialogues
  • Fact Check
  • Health Dialogues
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News & Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Fact Check
      • Bone Health Fact Check
      • Brain Health Fact Check
      • Cancer Related Fact Check
      • Child Care Fact Check
      • Dental and oral health fact check
      • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
      • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
      • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
      • Fitness fact check
      • Gut health fact check
      • Heart health fact check
      • Kidney health fact check
      • Medical education fact check
      • Men's health fact check
      • Respiratory fact check
      • Skin and hair care fact check
      • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
      • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Abroad
  • Industry
      • Health Investment News
      • Health Startup News
      • Medical Devices News
      • Pharma News
      • Pharmacy Education News
      • Industry Perspective
  • MDTV
      • Health Dialogues MDTV
      • Health News today MDTV
      • Latest Videos MDTV
      • Latest Webinars MDTV
      • MD shorts MDTV
      • Medical News Today MDTV
      • Medico Legal Update MDTV
      • Top Videos MDTV
      • Health Perspectives MDTV
      • Journal Club MDTV
      • Medical Dialogues Show
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
LoginRegister
Medical Dialogues
LoginRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news & Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Fact Check
    • Bone Health Fact Check
    • Brain Health Fact Check
    • Cancer Related Fact Check
    • Child Care Fact Check
    • Dental and oral health fact check
    • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
    • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
    • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
    • Fitness fact check
    • Gut health fact check
    • Heart health fact check
    • Kidney health fact check
    • Medical education fact check
    • Men's health fact check
    • Respiratory fact check
    • Skin and hair care fact check
    • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
    • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
      • Ayurveda Giuidelines
      • Ayurveda News
    • Homeopathy
      • Homeopathy Guidelines
      • Homeopathy News
    • Siddha
      • Siddha Guidelines
      • Siddha News
    • Unani
      • Unani Guidelines
      • Unani News
    • Yoga
      • Yoga Guidelines
      • Yoga News
  • State News
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chandigarh
    • Chattisgarh
    • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
    • Daman and Diu
    • Delhi
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Haryana
    • Himachal Pradesh
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Jharkhand
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Ladakh
    • Lakshadweep
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Manipur
    • Meghalaya
    • Mizoram
    • Nagaland
    • Odisha
    • Puducherry
    • Punjab
    • Rajasthan
    • Sikkim
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
    • Tripura
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • Uttrakhand
    • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Abroad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
    • Pharmacy Education News
    • Industry Perspective
  • Home
  • Ophthalmology
  • Ophthalmology News
  • Twice a year Hydrogel...

Twice a year Hydrogel injection to replace drugs or surgery for treating Glaucoma

Written By : Hina Zahid |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2020-12-08T18:00:03+05:30  |  Updated On 30 Sept 2023 4:35 PM IST
Twice a year Hydrogel injection to replace drugs or surgery for treating Glaucoma

CAPTION

Researchers have developed a potential new treatment for the eye disease glaucoma that could replace daily eye drops and surgery with a twice-a-year injection to control the buildup of pressure in the eye.

CREDIT

Rob Felt, Georgia Tech

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • Telegram
  • Email

Good news for glaucoma patients!!

Researchers have developed a potential new treatment for the eye disease glaucoma that could replace daily eye drops and surgery with a twice-a-year injection to control the buildup of pressure in the eye.

The researchers envision the injection being done as an office procedure that could be part of regular patient visits.

The possible treatment, which could become the first non-drug, non-surgical, long-acting therapy for glaucoma, uses the injection of a natural and biodegradable material to create a viscous hydrogel - a water-absorbing crosslinked polymer structure -- that opens an alternate pathway for excess fluid to leave the eye.

"The holy grail for glaucoma is an efficient way to lower the pressure that doesn't rely on the patient putting drops in their eyes every day, doesn't require a complicated surgery, has minimal side effects, and has a good safety profile," said Ross Ethier, professor and Georgia Research Alliance Lawrence L. Gellerstedt Jr. Eminent Scholar in Bioengineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "I am excited about this technique, which could be a game-changer for the treatment of glaucoma."

The research, which was supported by the National Eye Institute and the Georgia Research Alliance, was published Dec. 7 in the journal Advanced Science. The research was conducted in animals, and shows that the approach significantly lowered the intraocular pressure.

As many as 75 million people worldwide have glaucoma, which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Glaucoma damage is caused by excess pressure in the eye that injures the optic nerve. Current treatments attempt to reduce this intraocular pressure through the daily application of eye drops, or through surgery or implantation of medical devices, but these treatments are often unsuccessful.

To provide an alternative, Ethier teamed up with Mark Prausnitz, professor and J. Erskine Love Jr. Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech, to use a tiny hollow needle to inject a polymer preparation into a structure just below the surface of the eye called the suprachoroidal space (SCS). Inside the eye, the material chemically crosslinks to form the hydrogel, which holds open a channel in the SCS that allows aqueous humor from within the eye to drain out of the eye through the alternative pathway.

There are normally two pathways for the aqueous humor fluid to leave the eye. The dominant path is through a structure known as the trabecular meshwork, which is located at the front of the eye. The lesser pathway is through the SCS, which normally has only a very small gap. In glaucoma, the dominant pathway is blocked, so to lessen pressure, treatments are created to open the lesser pathway enough to let the aqueous humor flow out.

In this research, the hydrogel props open the SCS path. A hollow microneedle less than a millimeter long is used to inject a droplet (about 50 microliters) of the hydrogel-precursor material. That gel structure can keep the SCS pathway open for a period of months.

"We inject a viscous material and keep it at the site of the injection at the interface between the back of the eye and the front of the eye where the suprachoroidal space begins," Prausnitz said. "By opening up that space, we tap a pathway that would not otherwise be utilized efficiently to remove liquid from the eye."

The injection would take just a few minutes, and would involve a doctor making a small injection just below the surface of the eye in combination with numbing and cleaning the injection site. In the study, the researchers, including veterinary ophthalmologist and first author J. Jeremy Chae, did not observe significant inflammation resulting from the procedure.

The pressure reduction was sustained for four months. The researchers are now working to extend that time by modifying the polymer material -- hyaluronic acid -- with a goal of providing treatment benefits for at least six months. That would coincide with the office visit schedule of many patients.

"If we can get to a twice-a-year treatment, we would not disrupt the current clinical process," Prausnitz said. "We believe the injection could be done as an office procedure during routine exams that the patients are already getting. Patients may not need to do anything to treat their glaucoma until their next office visit."

Beyond extending the time between treatments, the researchers will need to demonstrate that the injection can be repeated without harming the eye. The procedure will also have to be tested in other animals before moving into human trials.

"The idea of having a 'one-and-done' treatment that lasts for six months would be particularly helpful for those whose access to healthcare is non-optimal," Ethier said. "Having a long-acting therapy would have an additional advantage during times of pandemic or other disruption when access to healthcare is more difficult.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202001908


advanced scienceglaucoma treatmenteye diseaseHydrogel
Source : Advanced Science
Hina Zahid
Hina Zahid

    Hina Zahid Joined Medical Dialogue in 2017 with a passion to work as a Reporter. She coordinates with various national and international journals and association and covers all the stories related to Medical guidelines, Medical Journals, rare medical surgeries as well as all the updates in the medical field. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

    Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Show Full Article
    Next Story

    Editorial

    Aspirin Use in Male Smokers Aged 40-45 Years with Hypertension: Identifying the Ideal Candidates

    Aspirin Use in Male Smokers Aged 40-45 Years with Hypertension: Identifying the Ideal Candidates

    National Consensus 2025 on Role of Bisoprolol Across CV Continuum in Women: Top 10 Takeaways

    National Consensus 2025 on Role of Bisoprolol Across CV Continuum in Women: Top 10 Takeaways

    Relevance of Pioglitazone in Indian T2DM Care Continuum

    Relevance of Pioglitazone in Indian T2DM Care Continuum

    Azmarda Outperforms Generic Sacubitril/Valsartan in HFrEF Management, says new study

    Azmarda Outperforms Generic Sacubitril/Valsartan in HFrEF Management, says new study

    First Indian Consensus on Managing Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Recommends Vonoprazan

    First Indian Consensus on Managing Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Recommends Vonoprazan

    View All

    Journal Club Today

    Intensive Blood Pressure Control Reduces Dementia Risk: Study Finds

    Intensive Blood Pressure Control Reduces Dementia Risk: Study Finds

    View All

    Health News Today

    Health Bulletin 02/June/2025

    Health Bulletin 02/June/2025

    View All
    © 2022 All Rights Reserved.
    Powered By: Hocalwire
    X
    We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok