Diabetic macular oedema: evidence-based treatment recommendations for Asian countries.

Diabetic macular oedema is the most common cause of diabetic retinopathy-induced vision loss. Efficacy of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy in diabetic macular oedema has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials. An Asian-specific guideline for diabetic macular oedema treatment is needed as patients in Asia tend to present with far more advanced disease than seen elsewhere in the world. Previous reviews of diabetic macular oedema management lacked a broader assessment of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment choices and newer trials. Recent clinical trial data allow head-to-head comparisons between the different anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents and treatment regimens. This review aims to summarize the clinical evidence related to various treatment regimens for clinicians, with a focus on anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies, and to provide guidance on the treatment of diabetic macular oedema in Asian patients.

Analysis of foveal avascular zone in colour fundus images for grading of diabetic retinopathy severity.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a sight threatening complication due to diabetes mellitus that affects the retina. At present, the classification of DR is based on the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Disease Severity. In this paper, FAZ enlargement with DR progression is investigated to enable a new and an effective grading protocol DR severity in an observational clinical study. The performance of a computerised DR monitoring and grading system that digitally analyses colour fundus image to measure the enlargement of FAZ and grade DR is evaluated. The range of FAZ area is optimised to accurately determine DR severity stage and progression stages using a Gaussian Bayes classifier. The system achieves high accuracies of above 96%, sensitivities higher than 88% and specificities higher than 96%, in grading of DR severity. In particular, high sensitivity (100%), specificity (>98%) and accuracy (99%) values are obtained for No DR (normal) and Severe NPDR/PDR stages. The system performance indicates that the DR system is suitable for early detection of DR and for effective treatment of severe cases.