Endocrine Abstracts

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is a major complication of diabetes that is characterised by the growth of new blood vessels from the pre-existing retinal circulation into the vitreous humour, i.e. it is a process of angiogenesis. The initial insult is capillary loss in the mid-peripheral and peripheral retina. The resultant retinal hypoxia stimulates the production of pro-angiogenic growth factors, with vascular endothelial growth factor and the growth hormone/insulin-like...