Macular edema treatment in patients with diabetes mellitus

• Published in: Diabetologie und Stoffwechsel
• Main Authors: Gavala, C, Kyriakopoulos, N, Georgantis, I, Patiakas, S, Tsoukis, E, Aggos, I, Kambanis, I
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 12.07.2007
• ISSN: 1861-9002; 1861-9010
• DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-984750

Background-Aims: Diabetic maculopathy is the major cause of the loss of sight in the progress of diabetic retinopathy. It is usually divided into edematous and ischemic forms. Macular edema (ME) is verified in the 10% of the diabetic patients with an increase of the 25% if the diabetic disease lasts for more than 20 years. The ME can be: “focal“ or “diffuse“. According to our and EDTRS experience, the presence of ME constitutes an indication to the laser treatment with photocoagulation; the most diffusely methods used are “ focal “ and “grid “ (scattered) techniques. The focal technique appears more indicated in the treatment of localized edema, while the grid one is more useful when the ME is diffused. Material-Method: Our study, one-year-long, has valuated 55 eyes of 35 patients with ME diffused and they were all treated with green-Argon laser. Results: The follow-up has given good results both in functional and both morphologic points of view. However, a good control of the metabolism, blood pressure and the cardiac and renal dysfunctions must be considered as a complementary measurements to the photocoagulation. Conclusions: We have notice that the functional result does not correspond to the anatomic one, valuable from both ophthalmoscopic and fluorescein angiography condition. That is the reason why we observe an improvement of the edema even in the absence of the visual improvement.