Purpose
To evaluate the short-term effects of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injection on visual and structural changes in diabetic macular edema (DME).
Patients and methods
A retrospective study including 108 eyes of 74 patients with DME in which IVR injection was conducted three times at one-month intervals. Retinal and choroidal layers, as well as the subretinal fluid area, were measured at baseline and during 3 months of treatment. The correlation between structural changes and visual acuity was investigated.
Results
In general, most of the retinal layers tended to decrease after treatment. Resolution of subretinal fluid remained relatively superior in predicting the outcome of ranibizumab injection. In addition, we found that reduction of photoreceptor layer (PRL) thickness provided the best estimation of visual acuity gain.
Conclusion
Neural recovery in PRL is associated with better visual improvement. Individual retinal segmentation would be beneficial for monitoring and evaluating ranibizumab treatment in DME.
