Photobiomodulation for the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema

The current application proposes to conduct a prospective, clinical trial in diabetic subjects with diabetic macular edema (DME) to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of 670 nm photobiomodulation on validated clinical outcome measures and anatomical changes in central macula by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and other imaging modalities. A total of 30 diabetic patients with treatment-refractory clinically significant diabetic macular edema will be included in this study and randomized into two equal groups. One eye per participant will be included to avoid exposure of both eyes to the study intervention. If both eyes are eligible, the eye with worse visual acuity will become the study eye. One group will be treated with standard-of-care (intravitreal anti-VEGF agent) injections. The photobiomodulaton (PBM) intervention group will be treated with the standard-of-care intravitreal anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) injections and 670 nm PBM in one eye. Baseline functional and anatomic assessments will be made and anti-VEGF therapy will be administered as determined by the treating Ophthalmologist.