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Visudyne
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| How it Works |
Visudyne® slows or stops the progression of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), pathologic myopia and presumed ocular histoplasmosis. Administration of Visudyne therapy involves the use of a specially designed diode laser that produces the low level, non-thermal (non-burning) light required to activate the drug. It is easily administered by practitioners and can be done in a physician's office in four steps.
| Step one |
Visudyne is administered to the patient intravenously for 10 minutes. |
| Step two |
In the bloodstream Visudyne attaches to lipoproteins which selectively carry the drug to abnormal vessels in the eye. |
| Step three |
Five minutes after the infusion, Visudyne is activated by shining a red, non-thermal laser light into the patient's eye for 83 seconds. |
| Step four |
Once Visudyne is activated, the abnormal blood vessel cells are destroyed by the release of singlet oxygen, resulting in closure of the abnormal vessels and cessation of leakage. |
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| Visudyne® is a registered trademark of Novartis AG |
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