ABSTRACT
This study aimed to compare clinical efficacy of retinal laser photocoagulation using a 577-nm multi-spot laser with pulses of 20 ms versus conventional 532-nm single-spot laser treatment with pulses of 100 ms, on the same patient with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) during 6-weeks follow-up.
We included 46 eyes of patients treated at the retina service of the Mexican Institute of Ophthalmology, Queretaro, Mexico. Pan-retinal photocoagulation (PRP) was performed on one eye (Group 1) using multi-spot PRP with the EasyRet® 577 diode laser (Quantel Medical, Cournon d’Auvergne, France). On the other eye (Group 2), laser treatment was performed by the conventional single spot method using the Oculight SL® 532 diode laser (IRIDEX Corporation, Mountain View, CA, The USA). The primary endpoint was absence of signs in which the disease was considered active at 6 weeks and the secondary outcomes included laser parameters, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT) at baseline, and 6 weeks and results of subjective pain analysis.
There was no significant difference between both treatment groups regarding age, gender, BCVA or CMT at baseline. At 6 weeks, PDR activity was similar between the groups (47.8 % versus 56.5%; p =0.55). No significant difference in CMT and BCVA was observed between the groups throughout the study period. Patient-reported pain scores were similar between the groups (5.0 versus 5.8; p = 0.30). However, total time of procedure was significantly shorter in group 1 (12.9 minutes [min] versus 22.3 min; p < 0.001). No major adverse events were identified
We concluded that laser photocoagulation of the retina with the use of the multi-spot technology in patients with PDR has similar short-term efficacy to that of conventional single spot retinal photocoagulation. The multi-spot laser required less time to complete the procedure with more spots delivered to compensate its lower fluency, showing similar patient tolerance.
LASER PHOTOCOAGULATION FOR PROLIFERATIVE DIABETIC RETINOPATHY, SINGLE SPOT 532-nm vs MULTISPOT 577-nm: VERY SHORT TERM CLINICAL EFFICACY