Pathophysiology and therapeutic progress of diabetic macular edema

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the leading cause of vision loss in diabetics. The destruction of blood retinal barrier is the primary pathological feature. At present, a large number of animal experiments and clinical studies show that DME not only has abnormal vascular structure, but also is an inflammatory disease. A variety of inflammatory media and chemokine are involved in the process of DME. With the extensive clinical application of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the treatment of DME got a revolutionary breakthrough. However, unlike proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), DME patients response intensively to anti-VEGF agents and couldn't resolve completely despite of multiple injections. Therefore, in addition to VEGF, other possible therapeutic targets and clinical trials of new drugs are also widely carried out. This article reviews the therapeutic process of DME. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2018, 54: 625-630) Key words: Diabetic retinopathy; Macular edema; Treatment outcome