Purpose: to compare the visual acuity before and after 15 and 90 days of the argon laser retinal photocoagulation as treatment of the nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetic type 2 assisted at the academical hospital Bettina Ferro de Souza. Methods: a descriptive and prospective study was developed in nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy patients submitted to argon laser retinal photocoagulation. An ophthalmologic examination by Snellen table was made before, 15 and 90 days after the photocoagulation. The patients’ eyes were classificated in three situations. In the first and in the second situation, the patients’ eyes were divided in three groups: A, B and C. In the group A, the acuity got better; in the group B, the acuity was maintained; in the group C, the acuity got worse, comparing the acuity measured between the period before and after the photocoagulation. In the third situation, the patients’ eyes were divided in 5 groups: A, B, C, D and E. In the group A, the acuity got better after the photocoagulation; in the group B, the acuity was maintained after the surgery; in the group C, the acuity initially got worse but later it improved maintaining the same acuity that before or better; in the group D, the acuity initially got better after the photocoagulation but later it got worse maintaining the same acuity that before or worse; in the group E, the acuity got worse after the photocoagulation. The result was evaluated through the comparison of the visual acuity checked before and 15 and 90 days after the treatment. Results: the sample involved 36 eyes of 23 patients, all of then are patients with diabetic type 2 disease. There were 20 (87%) female and 3 (13%) male patients whose ages ranged from 43 – 75 years (mean= 61 ± 8,03). Nine patients (39,13%) had insulindependent and 14 (60,87%) cases had noninsulindependent diabetes mellitus. The duration of diabetes varied from 2 – 31 years (mean= 15,43 ± 7,71 years). The presence RDNP in all patients were confirmed. The groups presented significant variation in the visual acuity (p<0,05). Conclusion: Improvement of the visual acuity of the eyes in the groups was presented, after the treatment with photocoagulation. It emphasizes the need of a early intervention, if possible, to preserve and to improve the visual function in patients with RDNP.
|
