Research Article - Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology (2024) Volume 8, Issue 5

Treating retinal diseases by optical coherence tomography alone during COVID-19 lockdown.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of managing retinal diseases by OCT exam alone due to COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment course of nAMD, DME andRVO patients, and compare it with real-life data.

Methods: A comparison between patients whosetreatment was based on OCT aloneduring COVID-19 lockdown limitations and patients who visited theretina unit one year before. Recorded parameters included demographic data, visualacuity, OCT characteristics, number of antiVEGF injections to each eyebefore the COVID-19 visit,referral for intravitreal injections, number of injections and anti-VEGF drugs administered.

Results: A total of 165 eyes of 133 patientswere included in the studygroup, and 189 eyes of145 patients in the control group. Both groups had similar baseline characteristics. Patients in thestudy group were referred to more anti VEGF injections than the control group (71.5% of patient’s vs 41.8, p<0.0001) final visual acuity was better in the studygroup, but although this difference achieved statistical significance (p=0.037), it was a small change not likely to be clinically significant.The differences in CMT and volume changes were also not significant.

Conclusion: Treating patients with nAMD, CME due toRVO or DME with anti VEGFinjections according to OCT imaging alone did not harm patients, and achieved satisfactoryresults. Adoption of this treatment regimen can be considered also for patients live in remote areas.

Author(s): Fidaa El Zhalka, Dalila Abu Atta, Ori Segal, Elad Moisseiev

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