Options available for vitreous hemorrhage in proliferative diabetic retinopathy
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Katherine E. Talcott, MD, gave an overview on managing vitreous hemorrhage in proliferative diabetic retinopathy at Retina 2022.
Talcott said that performing surgery for vitreous hemorrhage is one of her favorite procedures. “I think it’s among the most satisfying of the surgeries that we can do,” she said.
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is the most advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy and is estimated to be present in about 1.4% of patients with diabetes. One of the major complications of the disease is vitreous hemorrhage from retinal neovascularization.
Two treatment options for vitreous hemorrhage are vitrectomy and anti-VEGF injections.
“[Surgery] is beneficial, obviously, to clear the hemorrhage as well as to remove the hyaloid and relieve any sort of traction and get probably the best [results] you’re ever going to be able to give a patient,” she said.
Anti-VEGF injections, meanwhile, have been established as an alternative for managing PDR through regression of the neovascularization.
“The goal of injections in these patients was really to get the new blood vessels to go away, so the eye has a chance to clear the blood on its own,” Talcott said.
Collapse
Talcott KE. Management of vitreous hemorrhage from proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Presented at: Retina 2022; Jan. 15-21, 2022; Waikoloa, Hawaii.
Read more about