Dilsher Dhoot, MD: The Future Focus of DME Research

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a condition that can be treated with intravitreal aflibercept injections (IAI). While IAI has served as a successful treatment option for some patients, various dosing options are being explored.

In the EVADE Study, Dilsher Dohoot, MD, a vitreoretinal surgeon, and other investigators evaluated different dosing options for treating DME with IAIs. Dr. Dhoot will present the findings of the study later this weekend at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

MD Magazine® sat down with Dr. Dhoot to discuss where research is headed in the field of DME.

MD Magazine: What are some important avenues in the field of DME that should be explored in future research?

Dhoot: Diabetic macular edema (DME) [has] really a mixed bag of patients; it is a very heterogeneous disease. There are some patients that do fantastic from the get-go and there are others that really are quite refractory, and it can be very unsatisfactory to treat them.

One of the areas of research that is exciting is that there are treatment modalities whether it be combination therapy of steroids, or other anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (anti-VEGF), or cytokine condition. I believe that trying to increase efficacy and also increase the durability of the medications that we have is something very exciting and [will ocurr] hopefully in the near future.