Purpose:
To evaluate the efficacy of intra-vitreal Avastin use for the improvement of the visual acuity in diabetic patients with macular edema clinically significant.
Methods:
An experimental prospective study was done with 51 eyes of diabetic patients with macular edema clinically significant (retineous edema of an area of disc or bigger, any part of which is inside the diameter disc of the center of fovea) from January 2006 to September 2006. The patient had a two-month follow-up period. (1 day, 15 days, 30 days and 60 days after procedure). The patients were all caucasian from 39 to 63 years old. 51,8% were male, 43,2% were female and the average age was 52. Two groups were chosen at random: test group (29 eyes) -intra-vitreal injection of 0,1 ml of Avastin (2 mg), control group (22 eyes) -intra-vitreal injection of 0,1 ml of triamcinolone (2 mg).
Results:
In the text group, the following was observed: visual acuity improvement, in at least 3 lines, in 22 patients (75,9%); 6 patients had no alteration in their sight (20,7%) and 1 patient (3,4%) had the sight aggravated due to a prossible complication (endoftalmitis) because of intra-vitreal drug medication. In the control group the following was observed: 16 patients (72,7%) maintained their visual acuity and 6 (27,3%) had their sight aggravated, whereas 4 of them showed endoftalmitis and 2 cases of ocular hemorrhage. Statistic analysis was done by qui- square test where p<0,01 showing statistic significance between the two studied groups.
Conclusions:
Due to vascular permeability reduction action and neovascularization inhibition of retina and coroid, intra-vitreal Avastin(2mg) injection seems to be an effective therapeutical option in visual acuity improvement in diabetic patients with macular edema clinically significant.
Clinical Trial:
CEP099/2005
Keywords: retina • macula/fovea