Photodynamic therapy: the nurse's role

Patients with neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in persons older than 50 years in developed countries, experience severe visual loss due to choroidal neovascularization, the growth of abnormal vessels under the retina. Photodynamic therapy is a new treatment modality that combines an intravenous injection of a photosensitizing drug, such as verteporfin, and nonthermal laser light application, which destroys choroidal neovascularization without damaging normal surrounding tissue. It has led to new challenges for nurses working in the ambulatory laser setting, including medication preparation, drug administration, and education regarding precautions and potential systemic side effects of photodynamic therapy.