Diabetic Macular Edema

Patients in the open-label extension phase of RIDE/RISE who needed Lucentis less frequently tended to have less advanced diabetic macular edema (DME) at extension baseline and to respond better to initial treatment, according to post hoc analysis. These results suggest that earlier treatment of center-involving DME with loss of visual acuity may decrease its long-term treatment burden.

The rate of endophthalmitis after more than 90,000 intravitreal injections was found to be approximately 1 in 3000 in a retrospective study of a consecutive series of cases at a multicenter, retina-only practice. Prophylactic use of topical antibiotics was not found to decrease this rate.

Although intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents has become the therapeutic mainstay for diabetic macular edema and neovascular age-related macular degeneration, it poses a risk of noninfectious uveitis or infectious endopthalmitis.

A retrospective chart review study showed that the location of subfoveal fibrovascular scarring in relation to the retinal pigment epithelium correlated with visual outcome in eyes successfully treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Regular users of oral bisphosphonates had a higher risk of developing wet age-related macular degeneration than non-users, according to results of a recent Canadian study, and the longer the use, the greater the increased risk.

Boosting the potency of broccoli-related compound indole-3-carbinol (I3C) ten-fold, proved to be a viable treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Intraocular injections of methotrexate have been used successfully to treat indeterminate and sarcoid uveitis as well as age-related macular degeneration. Methotrexate injection’s record of success in treating these inflammatory eye diseases prompted researchers to evaluate its efficacy in treating persistent diabetic macular edema.

Placement of the Ozurdex sustained-release dexamethasone implant in 29 patients with persistent diabetic macular edema resulted in a significant improvement in visual acuity and a significant decrease in central macular thickness 6 months after implantation.

Patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration have shown a suboptimal response to ranibizumab over time. Several studies have established that switching from ranibizumab to aflibercept enhanced visual acuity and resulted in anatomic improvement in many of these patients, but the factors determining visual outcomes remained unclear.

Cold hard facts remain absent on if cataract surgery leads progression in age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Choosing the right drug can be a difficult decision, as cost-effectiveness and positive outcomes vary between aflibercept, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab.

Most patients are well-meaning and generally nice. But every now and then, you will get one who is a total pain to deal with. Maybe your patient lies to you, gets sarcastic, asks for special “favors,†or generally just pushes your buttons. We’ve all been there.

It is frustrating, to say the least, when your patients take their frustrations out on you. And, as if having to deal with an angry patient isn’t bad enough, providers now have to worry about the threat of legal action more than ever before.

Whether delivered intentionally or not, some physician comments are unhelpful at best and low-blows at worst. Saying certain things to patients can actually increase your risk of having a malpractice suit filed against you, making it especially important for you to always be mindful when speaking with patients.

Study results show that patients with diabetic macular edema are more likely to improve with treatment by a combination of ranibizumab and AKB-9778, as compared to treatment with either alone.

Five years of treatment with anti-VEGF (anti-vascular endothelial growth factor) drugs seems to hold considerable promise for those with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

A patch that uses patients’ own stem cells to protect them from vision loss will soon begin phase 1 trials.

Results from the ATLAS study show that patients with wet AMD treated with Eylea experienced visual and anatomic improvements after 1 year that were sustained after 2 years.

Phase 2a trial of novel topical anti-angiogenic agent regorafenib shows lack of efficacy in neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Study results show that transplanted human retinal stem cells rescue photoreceptors in rabbit retinas for 8 months.

Study results show that the majority of patients with retinal neovascularization due to proliferative diabetic retinopathy treated with bevacizumab experience total, long-term regression of their symptoms.

After 12 or 24 monthly injections, ranibizumab, one of three currently available vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies, caused regression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in at least 75% of patients who had diabetic macular edema and whose DR severity put them at the highest risk of progression to proliferative DR.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the oral nucleoside TAS-102 (Lonsurf/ Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd) to treat patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) who had not been responding to other treatments.

More patients in the RIDE and RISE trials treated with the VEGF inhibitor showed improvements in vision test scores compared to patients who received placebo.

Lesion type, size, location and other pain predictors should be considered for patients who undergo photodynamic therapy.

New research indicates that older patients with late-stage advanced macular degeneration are at increased risk of bleeding stroke.

Now that ASCO has concluded, I'd like to review the data from GOG 218, the three-arm randomized trial that evaluated the role of bevacizumab in the first-line treatment of ovarian cancer.

The first results of bevacizumab in the adjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer were just released by the drug makers, Genentech/Roche.

We've collected links to some of the top podcast resources for primary care physicians.

It's been about a month since ASCO and as I've gone through the research presented at the meeting related to women's cancer, it shows that there were exciting results shared with the attendees.