Indocyanine green angiography-guided focal navigated laser photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema

To evaluate the efficacy of indocyanine-green angiography (ICGA)-guided navigated focal laser photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema (DME).

Prospective, interventional case series.

Six patients (8 eyes) were enrolled in this study. Fluorescein angiography (FA) and ICGA were performed using the Heidelberg Retina Angiogram 2 (Heidelberg Engineering). Navigated focal laser photocoagulation was delivered to the microaneurysms on ICGA using Navilas^® (OD-OS GmbH, Germany). Central retinal thickness (CRT) and macular volume (MV) were measured by Cirrus HD-OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec). At 6 months, the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), CRT and MV were compared to the values measured on day 0. The distances from the center of fovea to the closest microaneurysms (MAs) were measured on the pre-planned Navilas^® image.

All eyes had previous treatment history. At 6 months, ICGA-guided navigated focal laser photocoagulation significantly reduced the CRT and the MV (p<0.05), and there was improvement in the BCVA (p<0.05). At 3 months, 5 out of the 8 eyes (63%) underwent additional ICGA-guided navigated focal laser photocoagulation due to remnants of MAs that had been confirmed by ICGA. There was no observed recurrence of edema after the ICGA-guided navigated focal laser photocoagulation during the 6-month follow-up. The mean distance from the center of fovea to the closest MAs was 624.8 ± 377.7 μm (range 336.0-1438.9 μm).

Our data suggest ICGA-guided navigated focal laser photocoagulation may be effective for the treatment of DME.