Efficacy and safety of phacoemulsification cataract surgery with prophylactic vitreous injection of bevacizumab in the treatment of retinopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: For patients with cataracts and retinopathy, phacoemulsification can improve the progress of the disease to a certain extent. However, the efficacy of phacoemulsification alone is often not ideal, and may even aggravate the prognostic effects, such as macular edema and slow visual recovery. Thus, an increasing number of clinicians have explored comprehensive therapy involving phacoemulsification combined with drug therapy, which has led to some research progress. However, there is still great controversy about the combined treatment. In this study, we performed a literature meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of prophylactic intravitreal injection of bevacizumab combined with phacoemulsification for the treatment of cataracts complicated with retinopathy.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and MEDLINE databases for English language papers related to these studies factors published between January 2001 and January 2021. The retrieved articles were screened and the quality of the included studies was evaluated. Meta-analysis was performed and RevMan5.3 was used to calculate the enhanced mean difference (MD).

Results: Six articles were finally included in this meta-analysis, involving a total of 325 cases with cataracts and retinopathy. The results showed that the best-corrected visual acuity at 1 month [MD =-0.06; 95% confidence interval (CI): (-0.09, -0.03); P=0.0002] and 3 months [MD =-0.09; 95% CI: (-0.11, -0.07); P<0.00001] in the preventive vitreous injection bevacizumab intervention group were significantly better than those of the control group (P<0.1). However, the best-corrected visual acuity at 6 months [MD =-0.02; 95% CI: (-0.07, 0.03); P=0.39] was not significantly different between these two groups (P>0.05). In addition, the central macular thickness of the preventive vitreous injection bevacizumab intervention group at 1 month after treatment [MD =-37.07; 95% CI: (-45.87, -28.27); P<0.00001], 3 months [MD =-15.26; 95% CI: (-23.87, -6.66); P=0.0005], and 6 months [MD =-26.77; 95% CI: (-37.51, -16.04); P<0.00001] were significantly different to the control group (P<0.05).

Discussion: The results of this study showed that prophylactic intravitreal injection of bevacizumab combined with phacoemulsification is a safe and effective treatment for patients with cataracts and retinopathy within 6 months after treatment.

Keywords: Vitreous injection; bevacizumab; meta-analysis; phacoemulsification cataract surgery; retinopathy.