7, 8 and 9 In addition, the definition of center- and non-center-involved DME may vary; the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCRnet) has defined non-center-involved DME as “a baseline central subfield thickness <250 microns and a baseline photograph assessment of retinal thickness at the center of the macula graded as none or questionable.”7 Moreover, the parameters of a “normal” central subfield threshold may vary depending on the optical coherence tomography Birinapant nmr (OCT) machine
employed.10 Among pharmacologic treatments currently available for DME, antiangiogenic agents such as bevacizumab and ranibizumab have been reported to be associated with visual acuity improvement and favorable remodeling
of the macular architecture in patients with DME.11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 Ranibizumab has been evaluated in phase III prospective randomized clinical trials ZD1839 and reported to be associated with better visual acuity outcomes compared to focal/grid laser in patients with DME.12 and 13 To our knowledge and based on a Medline search, there is no published study comparing intravitreal (IV) bevacizumab and IV ranibizumab for the treatment for DME. We conducted a randomized, prospective study to compare the visual acuity and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) outcomes associated with IV bevacizumab vs IV ranibizumab for the management of DME. The current study is a prospective randomized clinical trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01487629). The study protocol adhered to the Astemizole tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the local Institutional
Review Board, Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, and all participants gave written informed consent before entering into the study. All patients evaluated in the Retina Section of the Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto of the University of Sao Paulo with center-involved DME in at least 1 eye between July 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011 were invited to participate in the study. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) center-involved DME, defined as a central subfield thickness >300 μm on SDOCT, despite at least 1 session of macular laser photocoagulation performed at least 3 months previously; (2) best-corrected ETDRS visual acuity (BCVA) measurement between 0.3 logMAR (Snellen equivalent: 20/40) and 1.6 logMAR (Snellen equivalent: 20/800); (3) signed informed consent.