A study by consultants at Moorfields Eye Hospital has highlighted the benefits of Avastin injections over laser therapy in the treatment of diabetic macular oedema.
The results of the study showed improved vision for those treated with the injection and provided evidence for the longer-term use of bevacizumab in the treatment of persistent 'centre-involving clinically significant macular oedema'.
Half of a group of 80 patients with the condition were treated traditionally with laser, the other half with bevacizumab injections. The latter group showed improved vision which was maintained over the two-year period despite reduced injection frequency in the second year.
Robin Hamilton, consultant and clinical director of Moorfields Eye Hospital, said: 'Overall, the outcomes at this second stage are very encouraging and should be reassuring to physicians charged with delivering this relatively new treatment.
'Bevacizumab injections have shown clear benefits over the standard laser therapy in patients with this severe form of diabetic macular oedema, and our study adds to the growing evidence that anti-VEGF therapies are more effective in treating this condition than the standard laser therapy.'
Although patients with advanced macular ischaemia were excluded from the study, researchers conclude that it would be reasonable to treat those with mild to moderate degrees of ischaemia in this way too.
The results, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, are taken from the second phase of the Bevacizumab or Laser Therapy (BOLT) trial.