Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema

Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema are significant ocular complications of diabetes mellitus. Diabetic retinopathy is the third common cause of blindness in Germany and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. Diagnosis and stage determination are based on ophthalmological examination and additional instrumental diagnostics. Standard classical treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy is panretinal photocoagulation. Diabetic macular oedema is treated with intravitreal drug injection of mainly vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors. More recently, additional medications have been approved for intravitreal injections, which promise the possibility of extended dosing intervals for this chronic therapy. Moreover, ophthalmological screening plays a crucial role, with recommendations being made in this regard in the current German national care guideline for type 2 diabetes (Nationale VersorgungsLeitlinie Typ-2-Diabetes) from 2023. In addition, there are prospects in this area for the use of digitalized applications and the use of artificial intelligence.