Harvard eye researchers have eight papers retracted for lack of ethical approval

A group of eye researchers is up to eight retractions for problems with the ethics approval for their studies. 

The studies appeared in three journals, although one, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), is pulling six studies. 

The senior author on all eight publications was Jorge G. Arroyo, a former faculty member at Harvard. Arroyo’s LinkedIn page now lists him as being with Boston Vision, a private medical practice. 

Here’s the notice for the six retractions in IOVS, which covers abstracts submitted to the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology between 2019 and 2021:

“Effect of 3-Hour Normobaric Hyperoxia on Diabetic Macular Edema” by Robert Minturn, Brendan Seto, Keiko Yamada, Ke Zeng, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2019;60(9):2635). 

“The Effect of Hyperoxia and Hypercapnia on Retinal Vascular Blood Flow in Healthy Adults” by Keiko Yamada, Brendan Seto, Christopher Llerena, Christopher Hsu, Chie Sotozono, Takatoshi Maeno, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2019;60(9):5742). 

“Human Laser Speckle Retinal Blood Flow Changes Associate with Exposure to Varying Concentrations of O2 and CO2” by Keiko Yamada, Rachelle Koch, Purva Atreay, Sinjin Swartz, Takatoshi Maeno, Chie Sotozono, Brendan Seto, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020;61(7):1749). 

“Short-Term Normobaric Hyperoxia Treatment for Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration: An Exploratory Study” by Justin Wang, Colin Lemire, Brendan Seto, Keiko Yamada, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021;62(8):312). 

“Anatomical and Physiological Effects of Nocturnal Normobaric Hyperoxia Treatment in Patients with Diabetic Macular Edema” by Soobin Song, Colin Lemire, Purva Atreay, Brendan Seto, Keiko Yamada, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021;62(8):1069). 

“Assessing Clinical and Anatomical Outcomes for Central Serous Chorioretinopathy Treated With Standard of Care or Experimental Hyperoxia” by Mortada Salman Najem, Colin Lemire, Abigail Ralph, Brendan Seto, Keiko Yamada, and Jorge G. Arroyo (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021;62(8):3105). 

After the research outlined in the above abstracts was presented at the ARVO Annual Meetings, and after the abstracts were published in IOVS, a serious issue related to lack of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the research procedures was brought to the attention of the journal by the IRB, and has been corroborated by the corresponding author. It was therefore agreed that the abstracts should be retracted from the journal. 

The retraction notice for “Normobaric hyperoxia rapidly reduces diabetic macular oedema,” from Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology, reads: 

The above article, published online on 15 June 2021 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Justine Smith, and John Wiley & Sons, Australia, Limited. The retraction has been agreed following confirmation by the corresponding author that the study procedures deviated from the human research ethics approval received for the research.

And Translational Vision Science & Technology has retracted the 2021 article, “Relative Retinal Blood Flow: A Novel and Informative Measure of Unilateral Retinal Vein Occlusion Severity”:

After publication of the above article, a serious issue related to lack of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the research procedures was brought to the attention of the journal by the IRB, and has been corroborated by the corresponding author. It was therefore agreed that this article should be retracted. 

Arroyo did not respond to requests for comment.

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