Anti-VEGF benefit on visual acuity

Early intervention with anti-VEGF injections for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy has no benefit to visual acuity, researchers from the DRCR Retina Network in the US and Canada have concluded.

While early treatment of diabetes-related eye disease slowed progression to severe disease, it did not improve visual acuity compared with treating more severe disease once it developed, said authors of the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI).

Chair of the four-year research, Raj Maturi, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine and Retina Partners Midwest, said: ‘This study indicates that monitoring patients regularly for vision-threatening diabetes complications and treating eyes only as needed is the best approach.’