title: Future opportunities in diabetic retinopathy research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The risk of vision loss from diabetic retinopathy has fallen dramatically over the past 3 decades with improvements in diabetes and blood pressure treatments, and with advances in laser surgery and intraocular drug delivery. Nevertheless, diabetes continues to be a major cause of blindness. This study summarizes the state of the art in diabetic retinopathy research and provides a perspective on opportunities for future investigations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  New insights into the pathophysiology of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy will improve metabolic control. Structure-function analyses are revealing new details of diabetic retinopathy. Intraocular drug therapy provides improved visual outcomes. Together these steps will yield better means to detect and quantify vision loss, and to develop patient-specific treatments to preserve vision for persons with diabetes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Retinopathy is one of the most successfully treated complications of diabetes and will continue to be an important area of research for patients and their families.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, WK Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MichiganbNational Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Emily Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chew
mesh_terms: D060433:Administration, Ophthalmic; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000639:trends; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors