Topical Treatment With Brimonidine and Somatostatin Causes Retinal Vascular Dilation in Patients With Early Diabetic Retinopathy From the EUROCONDOR

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Somatostatin in the context of diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, published as a clinical trial, phase iii.

Structural retinal microvascular changes have been identified as risk markers of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

In order to estimate the retinal response of neuroprotective eye drops, the researchers aimed to evaluate the effect of topical retinal neuroprotection on retinal microvascular changes in early DR.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Patients with type 2 diabetes with no or early DR were randomized 1:1:1 to topical treatment with placebo, brimonidine, or somatostatin in a 96-week prospective, phase II to III, European multicenter trial.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, placebo-controlled and multicenter study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Somatostatin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Somatostatin group a baseline to be compared against.

More than one site took part, so the participants came from several places.

Retinal vascular calibers were measured semiautomatically in digital fundus images by certified graders at baseline and follow-up and summarized as central retinal arteriolar and venular equivalent (CRAE and CRVE).

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists, Brimonidine Tartrate, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Diabetic Retinopathy, Neuroprotective Agents, Retinal Vessels and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, placebo-controlled and multicenter study of Somatostatin in people with diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2019 (Investigative ophthalmology & visual science), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Somatostatin compound page, Diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma research.