Researchers: Findings from Protocol V offer physicians guidance for managing DME

CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS The study results give ophthalmologists a plan for treating patients with good vision A POST HOC analysis of data from the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research (DRCR) Network Protocol V provides new insight on outcomes of eyes with center-involved diabetic macular edema (CI-DME) and good best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) if treated with anti-VEGF therapy only with worsening vision. According to Shah, the data show that some patients will do well if managed with observation and that using the DRCR Retina Network protocol-defined approach combining BCVA and optical coherence tomography (OCT)-measured central subfield thickness (CST) is an effective strategy for determining when to initiate anti-VEGF treatment. [...]the treatment decisions were guided by VA measurements obtained with the E-ETDRS testing protocol refraction, which may differ from the approach used in clinical settings.