A Comparison Study of Ranibizumab and Aflibercept in Patients with Naive Diabetic Macular Edema in Presence of Serous Retinal Detachment

Aim of the study: The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of intravitreal injection of Aflibercept and Ranibizumab in the treatment of naive diabetic macular edema (DME) with serous retinal detachment (SRD). Materials and methods: In this prospective, non-randomized-cohort study, 60 eyes with DME with SRD were divided into 2 groups: group 1 consisted of 30 eyes treated with intravitreal injection of 0.5 mg/0.1 mL Ranibizumab (IVR) and group 2 consisted of 30 eyes treated with intravitreal injection of 2 mg/0.05 mL Aflibercept (IVA). After three sequential injections with 30-40-day interval as a loading dose, all patients were followed up for 12 months. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), SRD's height (SRDH) and the number of reinjections of the drugs were compared. Results: The groups were similar in terms of age and sex (p > 0.05). There was no difference between groups in terms of the baseline BCVA, CMT and SRDH (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between groups with regard to BCVA and CMT values for 12 months (p > 0.05). SRDH decreased significantly in both groups; however, the reduction of SRDH was considerably higher in group 2 for 12 months (p < 0.05). The mean number of reinjection was 4.40 +/- 0.85 in group 1 and 3.16 +/- 0.75 in group 2 and it was noticeably lower in group 2 (p < 0.001). The number of cases with persistent SRD at the end of the study was 14 (46.6%) in group 1 and 5 (16.6%) in group 2 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Aflibercept may treat SRD more efficiently in patients with DME compared to Ranibizumab with fewer injections.