Glaucoma research halted

[NewsWhore]

The program that was conducting research on glaucoma patients who have lost their sight has been suspended due to reports of infections in similar patients involved in the same program in Mexico. The announcement came from the Centro Laser in Santo Domingo. Apparently the equipment that was being used in the research caused infections in the Mexican patients, and until the source of the infection is cleared up, the research in the Dominican Republic has been halted. Dr. Juan Francisco Batlle is the director of the hospital in Los Alcarrizos known as "Los Americanos" where the tests were being carried out. He told Listin Diario reporters that patients from the Centro Laser were being tested to assess the effectiveness of a valve designed by the Beckton-Dickinson Company that is supposed to reduce the pressure inside the eye that is caused by glaucoma. It is this pressure that causes the blindness associated with glaucoma. Batlle said that a pilot study had begun in accordance with the protocols established by local health officials, and the valve was inserted in four Dominican patients and other patients in Mexico. The four Dominicans are doing "perfectly well" but in Mexico, two of the patients developed infections, and this led to the research being suspended

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