Managing Patients at High Risk of Conversion to PDR

In this interview from ASRS 2016, Dr. Charles C. Wykoff discusses his subgroup analysis from the RISE and RIDE studies which shows that patients with high-risk non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy can greatly benefit from ranibizumab treatment. Dr. Wykoff’s study found that 75% of eyes with baseline retinopathy severity levels of 47-53 showed at least 2 steps of retinopathy improvement at 1 year, which was maintained through years 2 and 3 of follow-up. This work, alongside other recent research, suggests that DR may have a significant impact on patients’ visual quality of life even before progression to DME. Dr. Wykoff also advocates switching to PRN or quarterly injections instead of an abrupt cessation of anti-VEGF therapy to stabilize retinal vasculature and prevent recurrence.