[Visual stability in diabetic retinopathy treated by panretinal laser photocoagulation].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of laser treatment in the visual acuity caused by advanced diabetic retinopathy without visual complaints.


METHODS
A descriptive observational study was developed in advanced diabetic retinopathy patients not presenting visual complaints. The patients were submitted to argon laser panretinal photocoagulation after ophthalmological examination as well as retinography and retinal angiofluoresceinography. The same initial exams were repeated between third and fifth months after the treatment. The non-parametric Wilcoxon test was employed for statistical evaluation between the visual acuities before and after the treatment.


RESULTS
The sample involved 67 eyes of 44 patients. Of these 67 eyes, 37 (55.2%) presented proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 30 (44.8%) showed severe and severe non proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The visual acuity before the treatment ranged from 0.5 to 1.0 (mean 0.81 +/- 0.16). There was no significant statistical difference between the visual acuity (p= 0.057) before and after the treatment during the follow-up period of five months.


CONCLUSIONS
The visual stability after panretinal argon laser photocoagulation indicated the need of this treatment in early phases of diabetic retinopathy in order to preserve the visual function.
Maia
Otacílio De O
OO
Departamento de Oftalmologia, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP.
Takahashi
Walter Yukihiko
WY
Bonanomi
Maria Teresa B C
MT
Marback
Roberta Ferrari
RF
Kara-José
Newton
N
D000368:Aged; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000601:surgery; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D017075:Laser Coagulation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012160:Retina / Q000601:surgery*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity