Diabetic Retinopathy
Introduction
Diabetes retinopathy is a chronic complication of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by elevated glucose level in blood. In spite of adequate control of glucose with optimum drug therapy complications occur after few years because diabetes is a progressive disease. Retina is situated at the back of the eye. It is an important component of vision. When retina is affected by diabetes the condition is called diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes basically affects the small blood vessels of the retina. The most common features are blurring of vision and gradual loss of vision. Ultimately it may lead to blindness. There is no effective medical or surgical treatment for diabetic retinopathy. Physicians and researchers are still looking for viable options to treat diabetic retinopathy.
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Treatment
Stem cell therapy is fast emerging as treatment modality for various chronic degenerative diseases. Stem cells can be introduced in the human body with ease and thereafter it regenerates the damaged tissue. These stem cells have the potential to turn into any desired cell. Stem cell therapy has also been tried in diabetic retinopathy and initial results are favourable.
Stem cell therapy has also been tried in diabetic retinopathy and initial results are favourable.
Initially stem cells are collected from the bone marrow of the patients or from umbilical cord blood of babies. Then they are cultured and harvested. Then they are injected as close as possible to the damaged tissue. In cases of diabetic retinopathy they are injected behind the eye ball. These cells are allowed to migrate in the region of the damaged tissue. The cells go on to repair and regenerate the damaged tissue. As a result vision of the patients also improves. However long term effects of stem cell therapy in patients with diabetic retinopathy is still not studied well. Detailed and large studies are warranted to prove the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy in diabetic retinopathy.