The relationship between three consecutively repeated intra-vitreal injections with anti-VEGF agents and macular vessel density modifications in Turkish proliferative diabetic retinopathy cases

Aims: Although a dramatic increase has been observed in Turkish diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients due to the rising cases of diabetes mellitus (DM), ophthalmological advancements facilitate treatment for DM and its ophthalmic complications, such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). To determine the effectiveness of the repeated anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) intra-vitreal injections (IVI or IVIs) on the macular vascular density (VD) in PDR. Methods: This theme includes methodological research, retrospective validation studies, and multivariate meta-analysis. The data were obtained from the PubMed, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, WoS, and Google Academic Papers between 2004 and 2023. The injections which completed within 6 months, consecutively administered monthly for three times. This editorial involves diabetic cases that were previously injected with any of Anti-VEGF agent, particularly aflibercept, ranibizumab, and bevacizumab in PDR populace. They were selected over eighteen years who owned high-quality images of “optical coherence tomography angiography” (OCTA). The retinas of thirty-five sufferers from DR were bilaterally analyzed by utilizing keywords. Results: The analysis of VD relevant to PDR did not identify notable alterations of TCP, DCP and SCP, central retinal vascular layers, both before and after the first anti-VEGF IVI cure. Similar events were detected by the consecutive second and third phases. Besides, central retinal thickness (CRT) decreased at least 10 % from the associated with control cases. Twenty eyes were cure-resistant, whereas fifteen eyes were medical care-responsive. Thirty-five humans with PDR were selected. The gender distribution in the study was sixty percent men and forty percent women, and their average age ranged between forty and eighty. Conclusion: The article revealed that VD measures did not illustrate any expressive difference in TCP, DCP and SCP before and after three injections. In other words, the baseline VD measurements did not suggestively conclude while CRT was reducing slightly.