Diabetes and photocoagulation.

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy, which may soon become the chief cause of blindness in this country, is one of the great challenges to internist and ophthalmologist alike. The frequent failure of medical treatment to prevent blindness has encouraged a direct attack on the ophthalmological problem. In the past, diathermy treatment has been used with some degree of success in controlling hemorrhage from localized areas of neovascularization. However, this form of treatment did not become popular because of the usual progression of the disease and the inconvenience and risk of a surgical procedure. Coincident with the recent increase in frequency and severity of diabetic retinopathy, the invention and acceptance of photocoagulation as a substitute for diathermy has occurred. It is not surprising, therefore, that a great surge of interest in this form of therapy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy has followed. Elsewhere in this issue of theArchivesis an excellent article dealing with