Glaucoma is an eye disease that is so subtle and yet so damaging that it has been nicknamed the “sneak thief of sight” for its ability to progress gradually but steadily, and is often not be recognized until the disease’s advanced stages. A disease of the optic nerve involving the loss of retinal ganglion cells, about four million Americans are estimated to have it, though only half may be aware of it. While only 120,000 of those people have become blind due to the disease, it still accounts for about 10% of all cases of blindness in the United States.

WASHINGTON—Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the eye’s optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. It is a leading cause of vision loss in the U.S. While there is no cure for glaucoma, with early diagnosis, the eye can be protected from vision loss.

WASHINGTON—Without a comprehensive eye exam, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and many other conditions that destroy vision may not be caught early enough to prevent further damage to the eye. “The reasons for comprehensive eye exams is to identify conditions and problems at the earliest stage and render treatment to avoid an impact on people’s lives and their abilities to do their jobs and to function,” according to Cdr. Kent Blade, MC, USN, an ophthalmologist at the Naval Medical Center San Diego.

WASHINGTON—The President asked for $47.4 billion to meet the Department of Defense’s health care needs for FY 2010. A top DoD official told a subcommittee last month that the budget request fully funds the agency’s health care programs. “All of the requirements of both the service medical departments and the Tricare Management Activity were funded by the Secretary. We do not anticipate any additional requirements at this time,” Allen Middleton, acting principal deputy assistant secretary defense for Health Affairs, told the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is sponsoring a trial to determine the effectiveness of spousal intervention in reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by increasing patient treatment adherence.

WASHINGTON—Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs S. Ward Casscells, MD, spent his last morning on the job at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he visited various medical departments and spoke with patients and staff.

BETHESDA, M.D.—Age-related macular degeneration is one of the many diseases associated with aging eyes. In some cases the disease progresses so slowly that changes in vision are barely perceptible. In others, it moves so swiftly that a patient might lose sight in both eyes over the course of a few years.

ARLINGTON—Since 2002, child mortality in Afghanistan has been reduced by about 25%, and basic health care services have increased greatly, but there is still more work to be done to increase the health status of the people, according to Afghan officials. “I believe that we have made significant progress in Afghanistan toward building a capable health system,” said Dr. S. M. Amin Fatimie, Minister of Public Health for Afghanistan, at a conference hosted last month by the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in partnership with the National Defense University’s Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. “But we really have a long way to go.”

WASHINGTON—As legislators look at ways to reform the nation’s healthcare system, one of the questions they find themselves needing to answer—one that must be answered before any significant progress can be made—is exactly what healthcare quality is and how to measure it. At a hearing last month, legislators were told both private and federal healthcare research leaders that there is a gap between best practice and actual practice, and that the current healthcare system does not necessarily reward physicians for improving the health of their patients.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In the push to direct attention and resources to illnesses and concerns of the nation’s most recent veterans, are problems faced by veterans from previous Middle East conflicts being neglected?