Different Risk Profiles for Progression of Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy: A 2-Year Study.

Introduction: Characterization of 2-year progression of different risk phenotypes in eyes with mild and moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) in type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods: A 2-year prospective longitudinal cohort study (CORDIS, NCT03696810) was conducted. Ophthalmological examinations were performed including best corrected visual acuity, color fundus photography and optical coherence tomography (OCT and OCTA).

Efficacy and Safety of Intravitreal Aflibercept Treat and Extend for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy in the ATLANTIC Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is far less common and studied in a Caucasian population than in an Asian population, and the optimal treatment approach remains to be confirmed.

Methods: A 52-week, double-masked, sham-controlled, phase 4, investigator-initiated randomized clinical trial (RCT) in naive symptomatic Caucasian patients with PCV treated with aflibercept in a treat-and-extend regimen (T&E) (intravitreal aflibercept injection [IVAI] T&E). Patients were randomized at week 16 to receive IVAI T&E plus either sham photodynamic therapy (PDT) or standard fluence PDT with verteporfin.

Swept-source OCTA quantification of capillary closure predicts ETDRS severity staging of NPDR.

Purpose: To test whether a single or composite set of parameters evaluated with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), representing retinal capillary closure, can predict non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) staging according to the gold standard ETDRS grading scheme.

Methods: 105 patients with diabetes, either without retinopathy or with different degrees of retinopathy (NPDR up to ETDRS grade 53), were prospectively evaluated using swept-source OCTA (SS-OCTA, PlexElite, Carl Zeiss Meditec) with 15×9 mm and 3×3 mm angiography protocols. Seven-field photographs of the fundus were obtained for ETDRS staging.

MEASUREMENTS OF RETINAL FLUID BY OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY LEAKAGE IN DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA: A Biomarker of Visual Acuity Response to Treatment.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment on retinal fluid in patients with diabetic macular edema by using optical coherence tomography leakage (OCT-L), a new method of quantifying sites of lower than normal optical reflectivity (LOR) in OCT, and to correlate these findings with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) response.

Methods: Prospective analysis of 21 eyes with diabetic macular edema, naive to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment. Macular cube 512 × 128 and OCT angiography 6 × 6-mm scans (CIRRUS AngioPlex; ZEISS, Dublin, CA) were acquired in all eyes before the first ranibizumab injection (V1) and 1 week after treatment (V2).

OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY BASELINE PREDICTORS FOR INITIAL BEST-CORRECTED VISUAL ACUITY RESPONSE TO INTRAVITREAL ANTI-VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR TREATMENT IN EYES WITH DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA: The CHARTRES Study.

Purpose: To identify baseline optical coherence tomography morphologic characteristics predicting the visual response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy in diabetic macular edema.

Methods: Sixty-seven patients with diabetic macular edema completed a prospective, observational study (NCT01947881-CHARTRES). All patients received monthly intravitreal injections of Lucentis for 3 months followed by PRN treatment and underwent best-corrected visual acuity measurements and spectral domain optical coherence tomography at Baseline, Months 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Changes in reticular pseudodrusen area in eyes that progressed from early to late age-related macular degeneration.

Objective: This retrospective cohort study utilized 3 imaging modalities to analyze quantitatively reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) area changes in eyes that progressed from early to late age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Subjects with AMD, unilateral choroidal neovascularization (CNV), and early AMD with RPD in the fellow eye (the study eye) were included. The study eyes underwent indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), near-infrared reflectance (NIR-R), and short-wavelength autofluorescence (AF) imaging of the macula at baseline and at follow-up.

Genetic variants in ICAM1, PPARGC1A and MTHFR are potentially associated with different phenotypes of diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: To explore phenotype-genotype correlations that may contribute to a better understanding of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Procedures: An exploratory association study was performed to identify genetic variants associated with non-proliferative DR (NPDR) in 307 type 2 diabetic patients who were previously stratified into 3 different phenotypes of NPDR progression. The 307 patients were genotyped for 174 single nucleotide polymorphisms of 11 candidate genes (ACE, AGER, AKR1B1, ICAM1, MTHFR, NOS1, NOS3, PPARGC1A, TGFB1, TNF and VEGFA).

Degree of decrease in central retinal thickness predicts visual acuity response to intravitreal ranibizumab in diabetic macular edema.

Purpose: To characterize factors that may be associated with optimal or suboptimal response to ranibizumab intravitreal injections in diabetic macular edema (DME).

Methods: Fifty-nine eyes with DME treated with ranibizumab were included. All underwent best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) assessment and optical coherence tomography (OCT) at baseline, 3 and 6 months.

Microaneurysm turnover at the macula predicts risk of development of clinically significant macular edema in persons with mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Objective: To examine the relationship between microaneurysm (MA) turnover using automated analysis of fundus photographs (RetmarkerDR; Critical Health SA) and development of clinically significant macular edema (CSME) in nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR).

Research Design And Methods: A prospective, monocenter, observational study was designed to follow eyes/patients with type 2 diabetes and NPDR (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study levels 20 and 35) with no prior laser treatment for 2 years or until development of CSME. A total of 410 patients, one eye per patient, fulfilled the inclusion/exclusion criteria and were included in the study.

Photodynamic therapy for chronic central serous chorioretinopathy: a 4-year follow-up study.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of standard photodynamic therapy with verteporfin at 48 months in patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

Methods: A retrospective, multicenter, interventional case series analysis in patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy, treated with standard photodynamic therapy, and with ≥4 years of follow-up. Evaluations were performed every 3 months in the first year, every 6 months in the second year, and thereafter annually.

Early markers of choroidal neovascularization in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral exudative age-related macular degeneration.

Objective: To identify morphological and/or functional early markers of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) development in fellow eyes of patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: This is a single-center, prospective, observational, longitudinal 2-year study.

Patients: Patients were enrolled with the diagnosis of neovascular AMD in 1 eye and early age-related maculopathy (ARM) in the fellow eye.

Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: results after 3 years of follow-up.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of verteporfin photodynamic therapy on the treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy.

Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized institutional study was conducted involving 42 eyes of 38 patients with newly diagnosed symptomatic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy treated exclusively with photodynamic therapy. Twenty-seven eyes completed 3 years of follow-up.

Short-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (PM).

Methods: Retrospective, multicenter, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional case series.

Participants: Twenty-six eyes of 26 patients with CNV secondary to pathologic myopia; 11 eyes with previous photodynamic therapy; and 15 eyes with no previous treatment.

Effect of calcium dobesilate on progression of early diabetic retinopathy: a randomised double-blind study.

Background: The study was carried out to confirm the effect of calcium dobesilate (CaD) compared to placebo (PLA) on the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) permeability in early diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods: Adults with type II diabetes and early diabetic retinopathy (below level 47 of ETDRS grading and PVPR between 20 and 50x10(-6)/ min, plasma-free fluorescein) were included in this double-blind placebo-controlled study. Treatment was 2 g daily for 24 months.

Medical treatment of retinopathy of type-2 diabetes.

The medical treatment of retinopathy in type-2 diabetes should be considered as a major component in the overall management of diabetic retinal disease. It is clear that specific and timely interventions, such as glycemic and blood pressure control, are the basis for good management of diabetic retinopathy. The American Diabetes Association has developed specific recommendations concerning diabetic retinopathy for the primary care physician and diabetologist.

The blood-retinal barriers system. Basic concepts and clinical evaluation.

Morphological studies demonstrating the presence in the retinal vessels of 'zonulae occludente' between the endothelial cells and physiological studies examining diffusion gradients in the vitreous after systemic or intravitreal administration of fluorescein, performed under the guidance of David Maurice, established the basis of the Blood-Retinal Barrier (BRB) concept. The BRB system is briefly reviewed as well as its role in health and disease. Regulation of the microenvironment of the retina is fundamental for appropriate retinal function and vision.

Macular alterations after small-incision cataract surgery.

Purpose: To characterize macular edema that occurs after uneventful cataract surgery.

Setting: Centre of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, Institute of Biomedical Research on Light and Image, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

Methods: Thirty-two eyes of 32 patients had uneventful phacoemulsification with implantation of a foldable intraocular lens.

Three-year follow-up study of blood-retinal barrier and retinal thickness alterations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Objective: To examine the 3-year alterations of the blood-retinal barrier and changes in retinal thickness occurring in the macular region in 14 eyes of 14 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Methods: We classified 14 eyes of 14 patients with type 2 DM and mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy, as having disease levels 20 (microaneurysms only) or 35 (microaneurysm plus retinal hemorrhage[s] and/or hard exudates) of Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test grading, by using 7-field stereoscopic fundus photographs. We examined them 7 times at 6-month intervals, using fundus photography, fluorescein sodium angiography, the retinal leakage analyzer (RLA)-modified confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, and the retinal thickness analyzer.

Stabilization of visual acuity with photodynamic therapy in eyes with chorioretinal anastomoses.

Purpose: (1) To evaluate, in a non-randomized, institutional, prospective study, the efficacy of photodynamic therapy with Visudyne (PDT) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) eyes with chorioretinal anastomoses (CRA). (2) To review, in a retrospective study and for comparison, the natural evolution of neovascular AMD eyes with CRA.

Methods: Prospective clinical and angiographic study of 17 consecutive eyes with CRA, treated with PDT.

Multimodal macula mapping: a new approach to study diseases of the macula.

Multimodal macula mapping is presented as a combination of a variety of diagnostic tools and techniques to examine the macular region in order to obtain information on its structure and function in a clinical environment. Foundations of macular mapping are reviewed and discussed. New methodologies for multimodal macula mapping based on a combination of scanning laser angiography, retinal leakage analysis, retinal thickness analysis, and visual field testing are presented, demonstrating the potential of macula mapping.

Retinal thickness in eyes with mild nonproliferative retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: comparison of measurements obtained by retinal thickness analysis and optical coherence tomography.

Objective: To compare measurements of retinal thickness in eyes with mild nonproliferative retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using 2 different techniques: the retinal thickness analyzer (RTA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Methods: Twenty-eight eyes from 28 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and mild nonproliferative retinopathy were classified according to the Wisconsin grading system by 7-field stereoscopic fundus photography. Ten eyes were classified as level 10 (absence of visible lesions) and 18 as level 20 or 35 (minimal retinopathy).