Vascular And Diabetic Eye Disease 2 Saturday 19 May 11:00 - 12:30 Salle Camille Blanc
G. Fasolino, G. Bamonte, S. Russo, M. Centola, F. Patelli,
ITALY
Ranibizumab vs bevacizumab in the fellow eye for bilateral diabetic macular edema: A pilot study
Purpose: To compare eyes treated with intravitreal ranibizumab with fellow eyes treated with bevacizumab, to determine whether the latter drug, even though not specifically approved for intraocular use, is as effective and safe as the former in combating diabetic macular edema. Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, 'Casa di Cura' Villa Tiberia, Rome, Italy. Methods: In a ongoing non randomised clinical study started in December 2006, five patients with bilateral clinically significant diabetic macular edema have been enrolled for treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab at month 0, 1 and 2 the right eye (RE), and with intravitreal bevacizumab at month 3,4 and 5 in the left eye. Patients are evaluated according to best-corrected visual acuity (VA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescein angiography. End of study has been set at month 8 (august 2007). Results: So far, 2 weeks after the second ranibizumab injection in the RE visual acuity in the treated eye has increased by 14 letters on average from a mean baseline VA of 30,8 letters to a VA of 44,6 letters at day 45 of the study. Accordingly, central retinal thickness in the RE as measured with OCT has decreased by 114,4 microns on average from a mean baseline value of 430 microns to 314,2 microns. No adverse events have been identified so far. Conclusions: We wish to present preliminary results of this study at Euretina Congress in May 2007 after 5 months of follow-up just after the third bevacizumab injection in the LE and three months after the last ranibizumab injection in the RE.
