title: Photobiomodulation in the treatment of patients with non-center-involving diabetic macular oedema.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Far-red/near-infrared phototherapy or photobiomodulation (PBM) has recently been reported to be an effective and non-invasive treatment method to inhibit lesions of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in animals. This study investigated the safety and efficacy of PBM in diabetic patients to treat non-center-involving diabetic macular oedema (NCDME).
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a non-randomised, consecutive, case series, where 4 patients with type 2 diabetes with NCDME were treated for 160 s per day with PBM for 2-9 months. Demographic data including age, sex, HbA1c%, electronic ETDRS visual acuity, and retinal and macular thickness were measured using spectral domain ocular coherence tomography (SD-OCT) before and after treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four eyes of 4 patients were treated, with fellow eyes serving as untreated controls. Daily PBM treatment for only 80 s per treatment twice daily caused a significant reduction in focal retinal thickening in all 4 treated eyes. No adverse effects attributable to therapy were noted by the patients or study investigators during the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PBM potentially offers a non-invasive and cost-effective therapeutic option for patients with NCDME. Further studies of this therapeutic option in DR are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Prairie Village, Kansas, USA Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Johnny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Prairie Village, Kansas, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Herda
authors.affiliation: Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kern
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
keywords: Retina; Treatment other