Treatment of diffuse diabetic macular edema

Treatment of diabetic macular edema was discussed in the first report of the Early Treatment Diabetic Research Study in 1985. Since then, patients treated at Innsbruck University Eye Clinic have been given grid-pattern argon laser therapy. Between February 1986 and April 1987, 106 eyes of 82 patients with diffuse diabetic macular edema underwent argon blue-green coagulation at the center of the fundus, excluding the foveal avascular zone. Four weeks after laser treatment, visual acuity was improved in 76 eyes, unchanged in 36, and had deteriorated in two patients. Thirty-eight eyes were retreated one to three times for reduction of visual acuity.