Effect of pan retinal photocoagulation on central macular thickness and visual acuity in proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Objective: To evaluate the effect of pan-retinal photocoagulation with Pattern Scan Laser (pascal) on best corrected visual acuity and central macular thickness in patients having proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Methods: This study was conducted at AFIO, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from Oct 2014 to Jul 2015. Sixty seven eyes of 46 patients having proliferative diabetic retinopathy were included in the study. All patients underwent ophthalmic clinical examination including uncorrected distant visual acuity (UCVA), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus examination with slit lamp and optical coherence tomography to document the pretreatment central macular thickness (CMT). Two sessions of PRP using Pattern Scan Laser were performed 04 weeks apart and OCT was repeated 04 weeks after the 2nd session. Central macular thickness and BCVA were documented. Results: Sixty seven eyes of 46 patients (29 females and 17 males) with mean age of 57.45 +/- 5.78 years underwent treatment with two sessions of laser PRP. Mean pretreatment BCVA was 0.67 +/- 0.43 and mean post-treatment BCVA was 0.57 +/- 0.3. Mean central macular thickness (CMT) as measured by OCT was 391.93 +/- 170.43 before treatment and 316.91 +/- 90.42 um after treatment. The magnitude of induced change in CMT after treatment was 75.01 +/- 90.75 and BCVA was 0.09 +/- 0.14. Conclusion: Laser PRP with Pattern scan laser alone in patients with combined presentation of PDR and DME is safe and effective.