Comparison of efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab and conbercept before vitrectomy in Chinese proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients: a prospective randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background To compare the efficacy and safety of preoperative intravitreal injections of ranibizumab and conbercept in Chinese proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients. Methods This prospective randomized controlled trial enrolled 90 eyes of 80 patients with PDR. Forty-four eyes of 40 patients that received intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injections (0.5 mg/0.05 mL) before vitreous surgeries were assigned to the IVR group. Forty-six eyes of 40 patients that received intravitreal conbercept (IVC) injections (0.5 mg/0.05 mL) before vitreous surgeries were assigned to the IVC group. Intraoperative and postoperative indices were assessed for further comparison between the two groups. Results There were no statistically significant differences in all surgery indices, including intraoperative indices (surgery time, P = 0.225; intraoperative bleeding, P = 0.808; endodiathermy use, P = 0.693; incidence of iatrogenic retinal breaks, P = 0.740; relaxing retinotomy, P = 0.682; retinal reattachment, P = 0.682 and silicone oil tamponade, P = 0.814) and postoperative indices (postoperative vitreous hemorrhage (VH), P = 0.808; neovascular glaucoma (NVG), P = 0.964; recurrent retinal detachment, P = 0.531; postoperative fibrovascular proliferation progression, P = 0.682 and reoperation, P = 0.955) between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at each follow-up visit (P = 0.939, 0.669, 0.741 and 0.717, respectively) or in central retinal thickness (CRT) (P = 0.976, 0.699, 0.551 and 0.686, respectively). As for safety profile, both groups had no ocular or system adverse events during the observation period. Conclusions IVR and IVC as a pretreatment of vitrectomy had similar efficacy and safety profile for Chinese PDR patients. Trial registration: Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT05414149 )