ABSTRACT
Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of subconjunctival bevacizumab (SB) injection every 2 weeks (biweekly) for diabetic macular edema (DME).
Materials and Methods: In this prospective, non-randomized study; patients with clinically significant DME, who had central macular thickness (CMT) >300 µm, were included. They received three consecutive subconjunctival injections of 0.2 ml (5 mg) bevacizumab in biweekly intervals. Macular measurements were obtained by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. The changes in CMT, and volumes of foveal (central 1 mm), parafoveal (between 1-3 mm), and perifoveal (3-6 mm) areas were followed.
Results: Totally, 35 eyes of 26 patients with DME were included in the study. Five eyes were treatment-naive and 30 eyes were treatment non-naive. The means of CMT were 440.82 ± 101.22 µm at baseline, 380.11 ± 79.76 µm at second week, 338.34 ± 69.24 µm at first month, and 330.46 ± 74.16 µm at second month. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at baseline and second month were 0.56 ± 0.38 Log MAR (20/80) and 0.38 ± 0.35 Log MAR (20/50), respectively. While CMT, foveal, parafoveal, and perifoveal volumes significantly decreased after SB injections, a significant improvement in BCVA was found (p < .01 for all). No significant ocular or systemic adverse events were observed.
Conclusions: Subconjunctival injection of bevacizumab every 2 weeks appears to be beneficial in the treatment of DME and it may provide significant anatomic and visual improvement, without ocular or systemic side effects.
Disclosure statement
The authors have no financial interest or disclosures and there is no received funding for this work.