Entezari M, et al. - In the treatment of refractory diabetic macular edema (DME), researchers assessed the impact of three intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections alone or in combination with intravitreal erythropoietin (EPO). For this investigation, they involved 48 eyes of 34 diabetic patients with refractory DME. To receive either 3 monthly injections of 0.05 cc (1.25 mg) IVB plus 0.05 cc (1,000 unit) EPO or 0.05 cc (1.25 mg) IVB alone, eyes were randomly assigned. In both groups, mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) changes up to 4 and 6 months were insignificant. It altered at baseline from 0.72 ± 0.56 logMAR to 0.74 ± 0.5 and 0.71 ± 0.44 in the combination group and from 0.48 ± 0.39 logMAR to 0.47 ± 0.35 and 0.52 ± 0.33 in the IVB alone group, at 4 and 6 months, respectively. At both 4 and 6 months, the difference of mean BCVA changes between the groups was insignificant. According to this randomized double-blind clinical trial, intravitreal erythropoietin in the short-term treatment of refractory DME had no additional effect on IVB.