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Bevacizumab reduces fluorescein leakage, improves visual acuity in patients with diabetic retinopathy
Intravitreal bevacizumab was linked to rapid reduction of fluorescein leakage due to persistent neovascularization, as well as improved best corrected visual acuity, in patients with diabetic retinopathy unresponsive to panretinal photocoagulation, a study found.
The prospective, open-label study comprised 12 diabetic patients with actively leaking new vessels that were unresponsive to panretinal photocoagulation. Best corrected visual acuity was 20/40 or worse.
Patients received a mean of 2.16 injections throughout the 48-week study.
Mean ± SEM fluorescein leakage was significantly reduced at all follow-up visits, from 27 mm2 at baseline to 5.4 mm2 at 1 week (P < .05), 5.5 mm2 at 12 weeks (P < .05), 9.9 mm2 at 24 weeks (P = .0083) and 3.1 mm2 at 48 months (P = .0007). No leakage was noted at week 6, (P = .0001).
Mean ± SEM logarithm of minimum angle of resolution BCVA significantly improved from 0.90 at baseline to 0.70 at week 48 (P = .0449), the study authors said.
One case of vitreous hemorrhage was noted; however, no other sight-threatening complications were reported.
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by Fundação de Apoio ao Ensino e Assistência, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto. The study authors report no relevant financial disclosures.