Principles of the use of thermal laser photocoagulation in diabetic retinopathy

The fact that laser treatment is effective in diabetic retinopathy has been proven clinically. Laser photocoagulation is by no means a treatment of the disease as such, but only an indirect way to control the ocular complications of the disease. Besides regulation of glycemia it is the only therapeutic tool in the hands of the ophthalmologist. However routinely used in clinical ophthalmology, the basic principles of the treatment need to be understood by the user. The best way to do so is to use the experimental approach. This paper summarizes the various experimental techniques used to understand and to study the interaction retina-laser: histology, electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and in vivo microdialysis.