"Tight" control of blood glucose shows promise for reducing the visual complications of juvenile diabetes, according to preliminary results of two studies presented at the recent meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Atlanta. One investigator stressed, however, that he saw no "miraculous" reversals of diabetic retinopathy in patients receiving continuous insulin injections from a portable pump. This is in conflict with several recent case reports of such regression.
In another report also dealing with the visual complications of diabetes, ophthalmologic surgeons from the Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute in Miami described several factors that influence the outcome of vitrectomy carried out to remove vitreous opacities in retinopathic eyes. Until the results of a recently begun investigation become available, their retrospective analysis of 1,500 cases provides the best current guidelines for determining which patients have the greatest chance of benefiting from this procedure.
Glucose Control.—
There long has been a dispute