title: Choroidal thickness in diabetic retinopathy: the influence of antiangiogenic therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the effect of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents (anti-VEGF) in submacular choroidal thickness (CT) of diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study, which included 25 DR patients (50 eyes) divided in 2 groups, according to DR stage and previous treatments: nonproliferative DR and diffuse diabetic macular edema in both eyes, submitted to macular laser in both eyes and anti-VEGF injection only in 1 eye (nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy + diabetic macular edema group, n = 11); and proliferative DR in both eyes, treated with panretinal photocoagulation in both eyes and anti-VEGF injection only in 1 eye (proliferative diabetic retinopathy group, n = 14). In the study visit, all patients underwent optical coherence tomography with enhanced depth imaging protocol. Choroidal segmentation was performed manually. The medium CT in central macular area (CCT) and the CT in centrofoveal B-scan were obtained automatically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 25 eyes treated with anti-VEGF showed a reduction on CCT (P = 0.002) and subfoveal CT (P = 0.004), compared with the fellow eyes treated with laser only. Independent evaluation of PDR group revealed similar results (CCT, P = 0.02; subfoveal CT, P = 0.03). In nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy + diabetic macular edema group, CCT was also significantly thinner in eyes treated with anti-VEGF (P = 0.04). A correlation between the number of injections and a thinner CT was found in this group (P = 0.03) and in the evaluation of all eyes together (P = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diabetic eyes treated with anti-VEGF agents have reduced CT.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; †Association for Innovation and Biomedical Research on Light and Image, Coimbra, Portugal; ‡Espaço Médico de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; §Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; and ¶Instituto de Retina de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Laíns
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Figueira
authors.forename: Ana Rita
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Alda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baltar
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Sandrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Cláudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farinha
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henriques
authors.forename: Rufino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002829:Choroid / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017075:Laser Coagulation; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A