Association of retinal vessel calibre and visual outcome in eyes with diabetic macular oedema treated with ranibizumab.

Moradi, A; Sepah, Y J; Ibrahim, M A; Sophie, R; Moazez, C; Bittencourt, M G; Annam, R E; Hanout, M; Liu, H; Ferraz, D; Do, D V; Nguyen, Q D

PurposeThe study aims to identify the association between the baseline retinal vascular calibre and visual outcome of patients with diabetic macular oedema (DMO) treated with intravitreal ranibizumab.MethodsThe 1-M field (as defined in the ETDRS study) of the digital colour fundus photographs of DMO patients who had been treated primarily with ranibizumab in a clinical trial was assessed. Of the 84 patients, 25 had gradable retinal photographs that could be subjected to analyses by the Interactive Vessel Analysis (IVAN) software at baseline. The average retinal vascular calibre of the six largest venules (CRVE) and the six largest arterioles (CRAE) in the peripapillary area (0.5 and 1 disc diameter from the optic disc margin) was measured. The relationship between CRVE and CRAE at baseline and the change in visual acuity at month 12 was assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsTen eyes from 10 patients who had shown an improvement of ≥2 lines of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at month 12 had a wider baseline CRVE (248.3±24.5 μm) compared with the 15 eyes from 15 patients who did not show the improvement of ≥2 lines (226.6±44.8 μm, P<0.05). The baseline CRAE did not differ significantly in these patients (156.1±22.7 vs 142±17.5 μm, P=0.17).ConclusionsA wider baseline retinal venular calibre may be a predictor of better visual outcome in DMO eyes treated with ranibizumab. Further prospective studies with a larger sample size and a broader range of disease severity and visual acuity are needed to confirm this finding.

CORNEA surgery; DELETION mutation; OPHTHALMIC surgery; INPATIENT care; RETINAL blood vessels; RETINAL vein; RANIBIZUMAB

Eye (0950-222X), 2014, Vol 28, Issue 11, p1315

0950-222X

Academic Journal

10.1038/eye.2014.186