ARVO 2025: Anat Loewenstein, MD, and colleagues on meeting needs of patients with diabetic retinopathy

Clinicians from around the world have convened in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). One of those experts is Anat Loewenstein, MD. Prof Loewenstein is director of the division of ophthalmology at Tel Aviv Medical Center in Israel. She is also a Modern Retina editorial advisory board member.

In a conversation with the Eye Care Network, Prof Loewenstein described her presentation, results from a Delphi consensus on the management of diabetic retinopathy. The consensus group was composed of a smaller cohort of five retina specialists, as well as a larger group of health care providers (including more retina experts). This population of practitioners were administered three surveys, which they used to record results on the current treatment protocols and outcomes for patients with diabetes.

"There were a few topics that achieved consensus," Prof Loewenstein said. Physicians in the cohort agreed on many of the unmet needs of patients, especially those which cause patients to have a high treatment burden and poor visual acuity. "One topic that achieved high consensus was the lack of possibility of very early intervention and noninvasive therapy," Prof Loewenstein said. "Another unmet need considered the lack of addressing additional pathological and paramechanistic paths." In particular, Prof Loewenstein said, diabetic macular oedema may need to be treated via more than just one pathway, in order to combat its multi-factorial origin. "That might bring along better visual acuity outcome, maybe with decreased burden for our patients," Prof Loewenstein said.