Abstract:

Purpose: To compare the postoperative results of cataract surgery (FAKO) only vs FAKO combined with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) in the patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). Methods: The preoperative and postoperative visual acuity (VA, Snellen) and macular thickness values of the patients with DME who had only FAKO surgery were compared with DME patients who had FAKO surgery combined with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR). Results: 18 eyes of 15 patients with DME and cataract were included in the study. The patients with FAKO surgery only (Group 1) had preoperative and postoperative first month VA of 0,27 and 0,43 respectively; the preoperative and mean central macular thickness (CMT) were 255µ and 321µ. The patients who had both FAKO surgery and IVR (Group 2) had preoperative and postoperative VA of 0,12 and 0,35; the pre and postoperative mean CMT were 269µ and 334µ respectively. While there was no statistically significant difference between the pre and postoperative VA of Group 1, the postoperative VA of Group 2 was significantly higher than the preoperative value. There was no difference between the pre and postoperative macular thickness values between those groups. Conclusions: Cataract surgery combined with IVR results in a better VA improvement in patients with DME and cataract, compared with FAKO surgery only.

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