Response to Initial Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor for Diabetic Macular Edema Is Significantly Correlated with Response to Third Consecutive Monthly Injection

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether the response to the initial anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injection to treat diabetic macular edema (DME) is significantly correlated with the response to the third consecutive monthly injection of the same anti-VEGF agent. Methods: Seventy eyes with DME that were treated with an anti-VEGF agent (16 eyes with 1.25-mg bevacizumab, 35 eyes with 0.5-mg ranibizumab, and 19 eyes with 2.0-mg aflibercept) were studied. They were treated with three consecutive monthly injections of one of the three anti-VEGF agents. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR units) and the central macular thickness (CMT) were measured at the baseline, 1 week after the initial injection, and 1 month after the third consecutive monthly injection. The changes of both values from the baseline 1 week after the initial injection (day 7) and 1 month after the third monthly injection were determined. The significance of the correlations between the BCVA and the CMT was determined. Results: The mean BCVA improved significantly for all three agents (0.38 ± 0.22 logMAR units at the baseline to 0.27 ± 0.25 logMAR units) after the three monthly injections (p p p = 0.73), moderate correlation was found for ranibizumab (r = 0.42, p p p p p < 0.05). Conclusions: The significant correlations between the results on day 7 to that one month after the third anti-VEGF treatment for DME indicates that the long-term effects of anti-VEGF therapy can be predicted by the short-term response. In addition, the results indicate that there may be differences in the effectiveness between the three anti-VEGF agents.

Keywords

• anti-vascular epithelial growth factor
• consecutive monthly injections
• diabetic macular edema
• best-corrected visual acuity
• central macular thickness