Clinical outcome of preoperative and intraoperative intravitreal injection of bevacizumab as an adjunct to vitrectomy in the treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of an intravitreal injection of bevacizumab in pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for complicated proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Patients and methods The study included 20 eyes of 20 patients (25-68 years old) with complicated PDR. All patients underwent 23-G PPV, and all of them received an intravitreal injection of 1.25 mg bevacizumab 1 week before planned vitrectomy and at the end of surgery. Results The mean surgical time was 60.5 ± 20.2 min (range 40-95 min). Iatrogenic breaks were reported in four eyes (20%) and silicone oil was used in these cases (20%). Final visual acuity showed improvement in 17 eyes (85%), whereas postoperative best-corrected visual acuity remained unchanged in three eyes (15%). The mean preoperative corrected visual acuity was 1.47 ± 0.73 logMAR units. A statistically significant increase in the mean corrected visual acuity was observed in all study eyes at 3 months after surgery (0.60 ± 0.48 logMAR units; P Conclusion Injection of bevacizumab, 1.25 mg (0.05 ml), 1 week before PPV and at the end of operation is safe and effective, resulting in a decrease in the operation time, iatrogenic retinal breaks, intraoperative and postoperative bleeding, and improved visual acuity in PDR patients.