ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a widely prevalent squeal of diabetes mellitus with multiple risk factors and predisposing conditions,
Objective: To compare efficacy of intravitreal injection of ranibizumab versus subthreshold micropulsed diode laser (DSM) in treatment of diabetic macular edema.
Patients and Methods: This was a prospective, comparative and interventional study that was performed in the departments of ophthalmology at Al Azhar University hospitals between September 2018 and January 2021.
Results: Improvement in the visual acuity (VA) was seen in both groups, The median VA in group (I) had changed from (0.21) to (0.25) and In group (II) it had changed from (0.26) to (0.30). Reduction in the central macular thickness (CMT) was seen in both groups. The median CMT in group (I) had decreased from 347.84 m to 322.48 μm and in group (II), it decreased from 333.04 m to 305.48 m. No intraoperative complication occurred during injection, the only postoperative complication that occurred were subconjunctival hemorrhage which occurred in 4 eyes (16%) and floaters which occurred in 7 eyes (28%). No complication occurred during laser treatment.
Conclusion: In our study we found that both intravitreal ranibizumab injection and 810 subthreshold micropulse laser when used with adequate power settings in the 5% duty cycle modes were effective in maintaining or improving visual acuity and improving central foveal thickness in the 50 eyes studied.