Comparison of Efficacy of Intravitreal Aflibercept and Ranibizumab in Treatment-naive Diabetic Macular Edema

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of two different intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents in two treatmentnaiveand statistically equal cohorts of diabetic macular edema patients.Methods: In this retrospective study, 81 eyes of 64 treatment-naive diabetic macular edema (DME) patients were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups andboth groups were treated [37 eyes with intravitreal 0.5 mg ranibizumab (IVR) and 44 eyes with intravitreal 2 mg aflibercept (IVA)] with three consecutive injections atintervals of one month. All patients underwent a detailed eye examination including optic coherence tomography and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA; Snellen),biomicroscopy, fundoscopy and applanation tonometry at preoperative, 1st, 2nd and 3rd month. BCVA values were converted into logarithm of the minimum angle ofresolution (logMAR) for statistical analyses. Data were evaluated with SPSS 25.0.Results: Mean BCVA (logMAR) increased from 0.58±0.28 to 0.43±0.29, 0.39±0.25 and 0.32±0.26 (p=0.001, p