Improving quality of life in DME patients

Intravitreal ranibizumab  (IVR) has been found to improve vision related quality of life in diabetic macular oedema (DME) patients, notes a study recently published in the Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications.

The prospective study, performed by Dr Elif Turkoglu et al. of Akdeniz University, Department of Ophthalmology, Antalya, Turkey, compared the changes in vision related quality of life in DME patients either undergoing treatment with IVR or focal/grid laser. Seventy patients were included in the study group who all had clinically significant macular oedema (CSME). Patients were randomly assigned into two groups, either receiving IVR or laser treatment, and treatments were repeated when necessary.

Both demographic and clinical findings were similar for both groups before treatment. However, the improvements in distance and near visual acuities and the reduction in central retinal thickness (CRT) were greater in the IVR group compared with the laser group.

For vision related quality of life, both groups saw improvement from baseline to 6 months but the improvement in the overall composite score for the IVR group was 6.3 points and only 3 points for the laser group.

As a result of their findings, the researchers report that IVR is a useful treatment for improvement of visual acuity, CRT and vision related quality of life and offers a better outcome for patients over laser treatment. Further, they claim that these patient-reported outcomes could have an important role in DME treatment choice.