Factors Affecting a Short-Term Response to Anti-VEGF Therapy in Diabetic Macular Edema

• Main Authors: Ayumi Usui-Ouchi, Asaka Tamaki, Yoshihito Sakanishi, Kazunori Tamaki, Keitaro Mashimo, Toshiro Sakuma, Nobuyuki Ebihara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: Life
• Subjects: diabetic macular edema; ranibizumab; aflibercept; anatomical response; optical coherence tomography; fluorescein angiography
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/2/83

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a common cause of visual impairment in patients with diabetes. Although intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections were efficacious in clinical trials, several patients exhibited a poor response. This study aimed to compare clinical features between patients who were susceptible to intravitreal anti-VEGF injections for DME and those who were not. A single-center, retrospective study of 102 such patients was conducted (123 eyes; mean ± standard deviation age, 63.4 ± 10.8 years; 57.8% males). Systemic and ocular data, assessed at baseline and after a month, were compared between good (>20% decrease in central macular thickness (CMT)) and poor (≤20% decrease in CMT) responders using the Mann–Whitney U test/Fisher’s exact test. Eighty-one eyes (65.9%) were good responders. The glycosylated hemoglobin level was higher (<i>p</i> = 0.011) in poor (7.5% ± 0.94%) than in good (7.04% ± 1.19%) responders. The foveal avascular zone was larger (<i>p</i> = 0.0003) in poor (0.67 ± 0.33 μm²) than in good (0.47 ± 0.23 μm²) responders. The number of microaneurysms in the pericapillary network was higher (<i>p</i> = 0.0007) in poor (2.7 ± 2.2) than in good (1.4 ± 2.0) responders. Baseline glycemic control and macular ischemia may be associated with the short-term response to intravitreal anti-VEGF injections.