Visual Outcomes Based on Early Response to Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Treatment for Diabetic Macular Edema.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship between early response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment and visual prognosis.

METHODS

We retrospectively separated 20 patients with persistent diabetic macular edema (DME) into two responder status groups based on the reduction of central macular thickness (CMT) from baseline to month 3: a delayed responder group (DRG) (≤25% CMT reduction, n = 11) and an immediate responder group (IRG) (>25% CMT reduction, n = 14). We also separated the patients into two responder status groups based on the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA): a visual nonimprovement group (VNIG) (≥0 logMAR BCVA improvement, n = 11) and a vi sual improvement group (VIG) (<0 logMAR BCVA improvement, n = 14). Finally, we assessed the correlations between logMAR BCVA changes from baseline to month 3 (ΔBCVAM3) and those from baseline to month 12 (ΔBCVAM12).

RESULTS

At month 12, BCVA was significantly more improved in the VIG than the VNIG (p < 0.005), but was not significantly different between the DRG and the IRG (p = 0.75). The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between ΔBCVAM3 and ΔBCVAM12 (r = 0.60, p < 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

BCVA showed significantly greater improvement in the VIG than in the VNIG. ΔBCVAM3 may predict the visual outcome at month 12 in DME patients treated with anti-VEGF drugs.