NCT02979665

Changes to the Retina Following Anti-VEGF Treatments for Diabetic Macular Edema

A Clinico-Pathological Study of the Structural and Functional Changes to the Retina Following Anti-VEGF Treatments for Diabetic Macular Edema

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 51 (actual)
• Sponsor: London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

anti-VEGF therapy is an established method to control leakage and abnormal growth of retinal blood vessels. Questions on the long-term effect on the retina, intraocular pressure and on the overall retinal perfusion from these treatments remain to be answered. The purpose of the study was to evaluate changes in the retina following anti-VEGF treatment over time, using structural and functional diagnostic tests.

Detailed description

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) causes changes in the capillaries that nourish the retina. Two treatments clinically used for DR are laser photocoagulation to reduce the angiogenic drive by knocking off metabolically active retina and anti-VEGF drugs for diabetic macular edema (DME). DME affects approximately 2.5% of the nearly 2.4 million Canadians with diabetes, or approximately 60,000 Canadians, making it a major cause of adult-onset vision loss. DME occurs when blood vessels in the retina of diabetic patients become leaky resulting in unwanted fluid accumulation in the center of vision known as the macula. If not treated, this can lead to blindness. Originally used in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), anti-VEGF drugs are increasingly used to control leakage and abnormal growth of retinal blood vessels. Numerous questions have emerged following the usage of anti-VEGF medications in the eye such as their long-term effects of these drugs on intraocular pressure and on the overall retinal perfusion. By recruiting DR patients requiring anti-VEGF treatment for DME, this study will answer whether long-term usage of anti-VEGF will result in structural and functional changes to the retina.

Conditions

• Diabetic Macular Edema

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Ranibizumab Ophthalmic	Ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis among others) is a monoclonal antibody fragment (Fab) created from the same parent mouse antibody as bevacizumab. It is an anti-angiogenic that has been approved to treat the "wet" type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD, also ARMD), a common form of age-related vision loss and diabetic macular edema (DME).

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-09-01
• Primary completion: 2017-08-01
• Completion: 2017-08-01
• First posted: 2016-12-01
• Last updated: 2019-05-02