Preoperative intravitreal bevacizumab for proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients undergoing vitrectomy - First...

This Living FRISBEE (Living FRIendly Summary of the Body of Evidence using Epistemonikos) is an update of the summary published in December 2014.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy can cause severe vision loss and even blindness if left untreated. Vitrectomy is often required in the treatment of more severe cases. Preoperative administration of bevacizumab, a humanized anti-vascular endothelial growth factor would improve intraoperative variables that facilitate surgery and improve postoperative course.

We searched in Epistemonikos, the largest database of systematic reviews in health, which is maintained by screening multiple information sources, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, among others. We extracted data from the systematic reviews, reanalyzed data of primary studies, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE approach.

We identified five systematic reviews including 16 studies overall, of which 14 were randomized trials. We concluded the preoperative use of intravitreal bevacizumab reduces the rate of vitreous hemorrhage in the early postoperative period, and probably also in the late postoperative period, but its effect on visual acuity is not clear. Furthermore, it probably decreases the surgical time and may decrease the incidence of iatrogenic retinal breaks. Although we are uncertain whether preoperative bevacizumab decreases intraoperative bleeding, it may reduce the need for endodiathermy.