gms | German Medical Science

Background: The present label of ranibizumab treatment for diabetic macular oedema is focused on the stability of visual acuity. “Real-life” efficacy data on this treatment regimen is so far not available.

Methods: A 9-months follow-up analysis was performed including 18 treatment naïve eyes of 16 patients. All eyes received initially 3 monthly loading injections and were treated PRN according to the criteria of stability of visual acuity.

Results: Mean visual acuity improved until month 9 by 1.3 ± 0.32 (mean ± SD) lines. Central foveal retinal thickness (OCT-CFT) decreased from initially 398 ± 23 μm (mean ± SD) to 343 ± 22 μm. The average number of injections was 4.4 ± 1.2 (mean ± SD). The first fluoresceine angiographic follow-up analysis was performed on average after 4.3 months. Patients had received a mean of 3.1 ± 0.6 ranibizumab injections until that time point of analysis. The number of microaneurysms within the ETDRS standard grid was reduced until then by 44 %.

Conclusions: The visual acuity based regimen of diabetic macular oedema treatment is functionally effective. OCT results clearly indicate that, though functional improvement occured, eyes were under-treated with regard to structural findings. Results of microaneurysm count indicate that a relatively small number of ranibizumab injections is capable to achieve a considerable structural improvement of the retina.