Abstract
This abstract has been retracted. :
Purpose :
Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the most common cause of moderate visual loss in people with diabetes mellitus. It is believed to be partially caused by retinal ischemia and is typically treated with anti-VEGF injections and/or focal laser photocoagulation. We hypothesize that that treatment of patients with diabetic macular edema with normobaric hyperoxia will reduce the amount of retinal ischemia and macular edema.
Methods :
Forty-six patients were recruited from the Beth Israel Deaoness Medical Center (BIDMC) Eye Clinic with the diagnoses of diabetic macular edema. They were put on 5 liters per minute of oxygen using a facemask for 3 hours, with Optical Coherence Technology (OCT) Scans taken before and after their session. Macula Edema measurements were derived from a fast raster scan and recorded as the percentage decrease in volume. We utilized two sets of controls: diabetic macular edema patients at BIDMC who received OCT scans before and after a 3-hour clinical visit without any treatment, and data from the DRCR Protocol C, which examined temporal variation in OCT scans in 99 untreated patients. 27 patients were recruited from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Eye Clinic with diagnoses of diabetic macular edema. They were put on 5 Liters per minute of oxygen through a facemask for 3 hours, with Optical Coherence Technology (OCT) Scans taken before and after their session. Macula Edema measurements were derived from a fast raster scan and recorded as the percentage decrease in volume. We utilized two sets of controls: diabetic macular edema patients at BIDMC who received OCT scans before and after a 3-hour clinical visit without any treatment, and data from the DRCR Protocol C, which examined temporal variation in OCT scans in 99 untreated patients.
Results :
Patients undergoing 3-hour sessions of normobaric hyperoxia for DME saw significant decreases in their macular edema (μ = 4.2%, p < 0.05). Moreover, the two control groups demonstrated low variability in 3-hour repeated measurements that serve to mitigate the possibility that this change was due to random chance (95% CI for DRCR = [-0.72%,1.1%] and our clinic [-0.89%, 0.91%]).
Conclusions :
These results support the hypothesis that DME is associated with retinal ischemia and even short-term, low dose oxygen therapy can lead to a significant reduction in CMT. Further study on this novel treatment modality with worth pursuing.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.