Morphological and functional retinal changes in neovascular age-related macular degeneration treated with intravitreal bevacizumab

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the morphological and functional retinal changes in patients with neovascular age?related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with intravitreal bevacizumab 1.25 mg. Methods: This was a prospective, nonrandomized, interventional study. Eighteen eyes of 18 subjects with nAMD were treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg) injection. Subjects underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation which included visual acuity, slitlamp examination, tonometry, binocular ophthalmoscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and MP1 microperimetry before the intravitreal injection and the follow?up at 1 and 3 months. Test of significance such as Chi?squared test, paired ttest and oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA) linear trend were used to compare the pre? and post?anti?VEGF outcomes. Intraclass correlation was done to assess the intra observer variability. Results: Mean retinal sensitivity had increased from 3.77 ± 3.13 dB at baseline to 4.93 ± 2.42 dB at 3 months (P = 0.05). Visual acuity improved from 0.62 ± 0.36 at baseline to 0.52 ± 0.36 at 1 month and 0.48 ± 0.34 at 3?month followup, but overall change was not significant (P = 0.40). There was a significant reduction in central foveal thickness (CFT) from 274.61 ± 117.95 at baseline to 179.83 ± 84.18 at 1 month and 179.00 ± 126.55 at 3?month follow?up (P = 0.013). Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg) injection in nAMD improves retinal function, quantified by retinal sensitivity, scotoma characteristics, fixation stability by MP 1 microperimetry and morphological parameters quantified by CFT in SDOCT. These changes show the effectiveness of treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab in nAMD

Failure to initiate early insulin therapy – A risk factor for diabetic retinopathy in insulin users with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: Sankara Nethralaya-Diabetic Retinopathy Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics Study (SN-DREAMS, Report number 35).

Context: Insulin users have been reported to have a higher incidence of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Aim: The aim was to elucidate the factors associated with DR among insulin users, especially association between duration, prior to initiating insulin for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and developing DR. Materials and Methods: Retrospective cross‑sectional observational study included 1414 subjects having Type 2 DM. Insulin users were defined as subjects using insulin for glycemic control, and insulin nonusers as those either not using any antidiabetic treatment or using diet control or oral medications. The duration before initiating insulin after diagnosis was calculated by subtracting the duration of insulin usage from the duration of DM. DR was clinically graded using Klein’s classification. SPSS (version 9.0) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Insulin users had more incidence of DR (52.9% vs. 16.3%, P < 0.0001) and sight threatening DR (19.1% vs. 2.4%, P < 0.0001) in comparison to insulin nonusers. Among insulin users, longer duration of DM (odds ratio [OR] 1.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.25, P = 0.044) and abdominal obesity (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02–1.29, P = 0.021) was associated with DR. The presence of DR was significantly associated with longer duration (≥5 years) prior to initiating insulin therapy, overall (38.0% vs. 62.0%, P = 0.013), and in subjects with suboptimal glycemic control (32.5% vs. 67.5%, P = 0.022). Conclusions: The presence of DR is significantly associated with longer duration of diabetes (>5 years) and sub‑optimal glycemic control (glycosylated hemoglobin <7.0%). Among insulin users, abdominal obesity was found to be a significant predictor of DR; DR is associated with longer duration prior to initiating insulin therapy in Type 2 DM subjects with suboptimal glycemic control.

Assessing Framingham cardiovascular risk scores in subjects with diabetes and their correlation with diabetic retinopathy.

Aim: To study the Framingham cardiovascular risk assessment scores in subjects with diabetes and their association with diabetic retinopathy in subjects with diabetes. Materials and Methods: In this population-based prospective study, subjects with diabetes were recruited (n=1248; age ≥40 years). The Framingham cardiovascular risk scores were calculated for 1248 subjects with type 2 diabetes. The scores were classified as high risk (>10%), and low risk (<10%). Results: Out of the 1248 subjects, 830 (66.5%) patients had a low risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 10 years and 418 (33.5%) had a high risk of developing CVD in 10 years. The risk of developing CVD was more in males than females (56.8% vs. 7%) The prevalence of both diabetic retinopathy and sight-threatening retinopathy was more in the high-risk group (21% and 4.5%, respectively). The risk factors for developing diabetic retinopathy were similar in both the groups (low vs. high) – duration of diabetes (OR 1.14 vs. 1.08), higher HbA1c (OR 1.24 vs. 1.22), presence of macro- and microalbuminuria (OR 10.17 vs. 6.12 for macro-albuminuria) and use of insulin (OR 2.06 vs. 4.38). The additional risk factors in the high-risk group were presence of anemia (OR 2.65) and higher serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (OR 1.05). Conclusion: Framingham risk scoring, a global risk assessment tool to predict the 10-year risk of developing CVD, can also predict the occurrence and type of diabetic retinopathy. Those patients with high CVD scores should be followed up more frequently and treated adequately. This also warrants good interaction between the treating physician/cardiologist and the ophthalmologist.

Prevalence and risk factors for severity of diabetic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of diabetic neuropathy (severity wise) and associated risk factors in a population having type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: A population-based sample of 1401 persons with diabetes (identified as per the WHO criteria) underwent comprehensive eye examination including stereoscopic digital photography (45° four field) for diabetic retinopathy grading. Vibration perception threshold (VPT) measurements were done to assess neuropathy (cut off ≥ 20 V). Severity of neuropathy was graded into three groups based on VPT score as mild (20-24.99 V), moderate (25-38.99 V), and severe (≥39 V). Univariate and multivariate analyses were done to find out the independent risk factors for severity of diabetic neuropathy. Results: In the overall group, the prevalence of diabetic neuropathy was 18.84% (95% CI: 16.79-20.88). The prevalence of mild diabetic neuropathy was 5.9% (95% CI: 4.68-7.15), moderate diabetic neuropathy was 7.9% (95% CI: 6.50-9.33), and severe diabetic neuropathy was 5% (95% CI: 3.86-6.14). Increasing age per year (P < 0.0001) was a statistically significant risk factor for all - mild, moderate, and severe - types of diabetic neuropathy. For severe diabetic neuropathy, other significant risk factors were duration of diabetes mellitus (P = 0.027), macroalbuminuria (P = 0.001), and presence of diabetic retinopathy (P = 0.020). Conclusions: The results suggested that every fifth individual in a population of type 2 diabetes is likely to have diabetic neuropathy. Nearly 13% had neuropathy of moderate and severe category, making this group vulnerable for complications such as foot ulceration or lower limb amputation.