Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers report they've found the first long-term treatment for people who suffer vision loss when the large veins in their eyes become blocked.

"These are extremely compelling results, because a large, longer-term clinical trial has never before shown that patients with central retinal vein occlusion could experience a visual improvement with treatment," Dr. Michael S. Ip, chair of the study and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said in a news release from the National Eye Institute. The institute funded the research.

The study authors found that injections into the eye of a corticosteroid -- a steroid medication often used to reduce inflammation -- improved vision in patients. After a year, they were five times more likely to have regained vision than those who were simply observed.

This is the first effective treatment for the condition, in which blockages appear in veins inside the eye's retinal tissue, the researchers said.

The findings appear in the September issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology. A total of 271 people, average age 68, took part in the study, which found that a 1-milligram dose of a corticosteroid known as triamcinolone caused fewer side effects than a 4-milligram dose, but the overall effectiveness was about the same.

SOURCE: National Eye Institute, news release, Sept. 14, 2009