Author

Sadhna Vora

Date of Award

11-15-2006

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

First Advisor

Ron Adelman

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate functional and funduscopic outcomes amongst patients receiving multiple treatments with macular laser photocoagulation for clinically significant diabetic macular edema. A record review was conducted of patients who had multiple macular laser treatments for diabetic macular edema. As part of routine follow-up for diabetic macular edema, visual acuity and funduscopic findings were assessed before a given laser treatment and at 6 months afterwards. The study included 64 eyes from 41 patients. There was no statistically significant difference between the proportion of eyes that showed funduscopic improvement after treatment 1 versus the proportion of eyes that improved after subsequent treatments. For the first laser treatment, 44 of the 64 eyes (69%) showed funduscopic improvement in edema. 35/64 (55%) of eyes showed improvement after the second treatment (p=0.15); 29/40 (72.5%) eyes showed improvement after the third treatment (p=0.85); 15/18 (83.3%) eyes showed improvement after treatments[greater than or equal to]4 (p=0.36). Similarly, in terms of visual acuity outcomes, there was no statistically significant difference between the proportion of eyes with preserved visual acuities after treatment 1 compared to repeat treatments. This study found that the majority of eyes that receive re-treatment after initial laser therapy will respond with an improvement in macular edema.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

Open Access

This Article is Open Access

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