Abstract
Purpose :
To describe the preferred clinical practice patterns for the management of Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) in Spain.
Methods :
One hundred and thirty seven ophthalmologists were given an on line survey regarding the diagnosis, follow up and treatment strategies of DME in their clinical practice. It was considered that there was a consensus whenever there was an agreement in 2/3 of the responses in each item.
Results :
Regarding diagnosis there was a consensus regarding the utility of the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), Posterior Pole Biomicroscopy (PPB) and OCT but not regarding retinography and or fluorescein angiography (FA). Only 48.3% of the ophthalmologists performed FA during diagnosis. Anti VEGF therapy was the first option for DME with central involvement (96.4%) and 67.2% started treatment with a loading phase of 3 intravitreal injections. Laser was used in very rare occasions mainly in combination in poor responders. Intravitreal steroids were the preferred option for non-responders and in those cases 91.2% used dexametasone implant. Both anatomical and functional criteria were used for retreatment and PRN was the most common regimen used in the maintenance phase.
Conclusions :
This survey represents the current management patterns for DME in Spain and highlights the differences and the gaps between scientific evidence and recommendations in clinical practice.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.