Assessing patient acceptance of laser pretreatment to reduce injection burden in diabetic macular edema: a large scale postal survey

Objective

To canvass views about whether argon laser pretreatment to ischemic areas of retina would be acceptable if it resulted in a reduced burden of intravitreal injections.

Method

A postal survey was mailed to all 813 patients under the care of the diabetic eye clinic at Singleton Hospital with 10 questions, explanatory information, and a stamp-addressed envelope available for returning completed questionnaires.

Results

Patients were strongly supportive (9.14 out of 10) of the idea of undergoing laser pretreatment if it meant less injections were needed for diabetic macular edema.

Conclusion

This is the first time any survey has analyzed patient attitude to laser pretreatment and showed that patients were strongly in favour if it was found to reduce the need for intravitreal injections.