Intravitreal Aflibercept for Diabetic Macular Edema: 148-Week Results from the VISTA and VIVID Studies

TL;DR: Recent work indicates that diabetes markedly impacts the retinal neurovascular unit and its interdependent vascular, neuronal, glial, and immune cells, leading to identification of new targets and therapeutic strategies that could provide the means to better manage DR.

TL;DR: In this article, a review of retinal pathophysiology during diabetes mellitus has been presented, which has uncovered potential new therapeutic avenues to treat this debilitating disease, which leads to profound vascular abnormalities, loss of the blood-retinal barrier and impaired neuronal function.

TL;DR: Advancements in technology have now made cataract surgery a common and safe procedure, however, the diabetic population is still at risk of vision-threatening complications, such as diabetic macular edema, postoperative ME, diabetic retinopathy progression, and posterior capsular opacification.

TL;DR: Ranibizumab rapidly and sustainably improved vision, reduced the risk of further vision loss, and improved macular edema in patients with DME, with low rates of ocular and nonocular harm.

TL;DR: VEGF Trap is differentiated in terms of its markedly higher affinity for VEGF-A, as well as its ability to bind VEGf-B and PlGF, a novel type of soluble decoy receptor with substantially higher affinity than conventional soluble V EGF receptors.

TL;DR: The strong VA gains and improvement in retinal anatomy achieved with ranibizumab at month 24 were sustained through month 36, and the incidence of serious adverse events potentially related to systemic vascular endothelial growth factor inhibition remained low over time.

TL;DR: Overall incidences of ocular and nonocular adverse events and serious adverse events, including the Anti-Platelet Trialists' Collaboration-defined arterial thromboembolic events and vascular deaths, were similar across treatment groups, and IAI was well-tolerated.