Pitt Receives Funding to Study Laser Treatment for Glaucoma

The University of Pittsburgh, in partnership with West Virginia University (WVU), received a combined $15.2 million from the National Institutes of Health to study using laser treatments to better manage glaucoma.

Goundappa K. Balasubramani, research associate professor of epidemiology, and Stephen R. Wisniewski, professor of epidemiology and vice provost for budget and analytics at Pitt, will enroll 600 patients across 20 locations to receive selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT). The study explores whether having one STL procedure a year can delay patients’ need for the expensive and often irritating eye drops usually prescribed to treat glaucoma. Pitt will be the data coordinating center for the trial, and WVU will oversee the clinical sites.

Glaucoma is caused by damage to the optic nerve and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.

Read more about the partnership.